Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt drew a purple line this week for pro-Palestinian protesters in school campuses throughout the U.S.
On Monday, Stitt appeared on Fox Information‘ Fox & Pals and was requested in regards to the protests at faculties like Columbia College, Northwestern College and Yale.
“Who’re these folks saying they encourage that [Hamas] or they stand with Hamas,” Stitt mentioned. “I might kick them out of the schools. That is unbelievable.”
“We consider in freedoms however that is unbelievable. After we see folks chanting ‘dying to America,’ it is a head scratcher. We do not know what’s taking place, what is going on on,” Stitt mentioned. “However these college students have to be punished for the anti-semitic actions which might be occurring.”
The context:
Over the previous few weeks, plenty of faculty campuses have skilled a rise in pro-Palestinian protests, with college students at Columbia College establishing a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment.”
College students are calling for his or her colleges to divest from Israel and assist the Palestinian folks amid the continued struggle in Gaza.
Tensions on campuses have remained excessive since October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an assault on southern Israel that left 1,200 folks lifeless and noticed greater than 200 taken hostage. Greater than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza for the reason that struggle started, The Related Press reported, citing native well being officers.
ALLISON BAILEY/Center East Photographs/AFP by way of Getty Photographs/Getty Photographs
What we all know:
At Columbia College, courses are set to be held in a hybrid mannequin for the rest of the semester amid the continued protests.
On Monday, Columbia President Minouche Shafik issued an announcement saying that regardless of latest negotiations with protest organizers, “we weren’t capable of come to an settlement.”
“Whereas the College is not going to divest from Israel, the College provided to develop an expedited timeline for evaluation of latest proposals from the scholars by the Advisory Committee for Socially Accountable Investing the physique that considers divestment issues. The College additionally provided to publish a course of for college students to entry an inventory of Columbia’s direct funding holdings, and to extend the frequency of updates to that listing of holdings,” the assertion mentioned. “The College additionally provided to make investments in well being and training in Gaza, together with supporting early childhood improvement and assist for displaced students.”
Views:
Pupil protesters at Columbia are nonetheless calling on the faculty to divest.
“We is not going to relaxation till Columbia divests,” fourth-year doctoral scholar Jonathan Ben-Menachem instructed AP.
In a submit to X, previously Twitter, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the continued protests by saying: “Anti-Semitism on campuses in america is harking back to what occurred in German universities within the Nineteen Thirties. The world can’t stand idly by.”
What’s subsequent:
The assertion issued by Shafik on Monday calls on protesters to “voluntarily disperse.”
“We’re consulting with a broader group in our group to discover different inner choices to finish this disaster as quickly as doable. We’ll proceed to replace the group with new developments,” the assertion mentioned.
It’s unclear if the protesters at Columbia College will voluntarily go away their ongoing encampment.
Newsweek has reached out to Stitt’s workplace by way of e mail for remark.
Unusual Data
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Newsweek is dedicated to difficult standard knowledge and discovering connections within the seek for widespread floor.
