A leading Muslim advocacy group slammed President Biden’s speech Thursday decrying the anarchy on college campuses, saying he failed to condemn attacks on protesters by law enforcement and supporters of Israel.
Edward Ahmed Mitchell, national deputy director for the Council for American-Islamic Relations, said the Democratic president should have called out attacks on protesters and violence by law enforcement.
“President Biden’s vague, both-sides speech failed to specifically mention and condemn the violent attacks that pro-Israel rioters and law enforcement officers have launched against students protesting the Gaza genocide at UCLA and other schools across the country,” he said.
Mr. Mitchell further criticized Mr. Biden for not blaming Israel for causing the protests and for failing to call out incidents of what he described as Islamophobia and “anti-Palestinian racism.”
“If President Biden is concerned about unrest on college campuses, he should start specifically condemning attacks on peaceful protesters and stop funding the genocide that has triggered student protests,” Mr. Mitchell said. “Until then he’s part of the problem.”
Mr. Biden ended his 10 days of silence on Thursday, delivering a three-and-half-minute speech saying “order must prevail” on college campuses while acknowledging the right to demonstrate peacefully.
In his remarks, the president deemed the actions of protesters harassing Jewish students as antisemitic but also condemned all hate speech.
“There is no place for hate speech for violence of any kind, whether it’s antisemitism, Islamophobia or discrimination against Arab-Americans or Palestinian Americans. It’s simply wrong,” Mr. Biden said.
