The First Amendment is designed to protect peaceful expression and assembly. It does not protect against civil disobedience or inciting violence. According to the new president, America will no longer fund schools that permit “illegal protests,” with an emphasis on universities that permit pro-Hamas rallies. The question remains whether a protest can be deemed “illegal” under 1A.
The Education Department announced on Friday that it canceled a $400 million grant to Columbia University due to “inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.” Columbia University has become a battleground for faux philanthropists who wish to deliberately create civil unrest.
Last May, CNN reported that many of the “students” arrested at Columbia and City College of New York had no affiliation with either school. The New York Police Department arrested 282 people, and only 148 (a bit over half) were real students. Protestors across most major liberal universities not so coincidentally had identical tents in place. “Students,” many of whom chose to wear COVID-era masks, all received instructional booklets on how to protest. Columbia, Harvard, Yale, and many others stood idle and allowed this to occur on its grounds.
As reported by Fox, Sami Al-Arian, a known terrorist who was once deported, advised associates and his wife to camp out along with the college students at Columbia. This man is admittedly associated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group. He has taken to social media to promote the civil unrest across American universities. This is a clear and REAL threat to national security. Again, these students are too naive to understand the root cause of these issues or the truly dangerous actors fueling the flames.
The “Catch and Revoke” plan to deport students linked to Hamas protests is a necessary measure to protect law and order. “Those who support designated terrorist organizations, including Hamas, threaten our national security. The United States has zero tolerance for foreign visitors who support terrorists,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared. A visa means you are a guest in a foreign nation and should respect the law of whatever country you choose to visit or study within. It is a privilege to enter the US on a student visa, not a right.
Authorities sent to break up university protests reported that they believed a larger group orchestrated the protests. We have the likes of George Soros and his son Alex, who are known to pay actors to incite civil unrest. But worse, we had a known terrorist camping out at an American university. The identical instruction booklets, tents, and chants across American schools point to a larger organization at the helm, be it foreign influencers like Soros or actual terrorist organizations.
“Since October 7, Jewish students have faced relentless violence, intimidation, and anti-Semitic harassment on their campuses — only to be ignored by those who are supposed to protect them,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said. “Universities must comply with all federal antidiscrimination laws if they are going to receive federal funding. For too long, Columbia has abandoned that obligation to Jewish students studying on its campus. Today, we demonstrate to Columbia and other universities that we will not tolerate their appalling inaction any longer,” she added.
Imagine permitting “students” to support known hate groups like the KKK. They’re peacefully wearing their ridiculous pillowcase masks, so let’s simply ignore the overall message of pure hate and chalk it up to free speech. How is it any different when we have a group chanting that Israel should not exist as a nation? Jewish students are reportedly afraid to walk around on campus in America because we are allowing children to cosplay as terrorists. There is a reason that 1A does not protect someone, say, running into a movie theatre and shouting, “FIRE!” We can speak freely, but that does not entail engaging in unlawful behavior that hurts others. It is a shame that the government had to step in to restore common sense here.
An investigation needs to be conducted to see who is truly behind these protests. Someone is deliberately orchestrating these events to cause upheaval and division. The far left turned a blind eye to what could be protected under the First Amendment during the Black Lives Matter protests. They permitted angry mobs to burn down cities and small businesses without repercussion. They even changed the laws in many states to legalize looting under a specific dollar amount. Oh, and the government funded the completely corrupt organization with public funds. Enough is enough.
These university protests were likely not orchestrated by students, and it’s perhaps unfair to deem these events protests. Again, whoever is directing these young adults to throw on a keffiyeh and chant “TO THE RIVER TO THE SEA” has sinister motives, and it is worth a closer investigation. Why should federal funds be sent to Columbia University when it permits antisemitism and hosts actual terrorists on its campus?
