U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) attends a press conference at Columbia University in response to demonstrators protesting in support of Palestinians, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in New York City , USA, April 24, 2024.
David Dee Delgado | Reuters
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., struggled to get to the floor on Wednesday, battling a chorus during a speech at Columbia University in which he condemned ongoing student protests against Israel’s bombing of the Gaza Strip booing crowds.
“Enjoy your freedom of expression,” Johnson said curtly, pausing his prepared remarks to wait for the mockery to subside.
Since student demonstrators set up a tent camp to protest the war in Gaza on April 17, Columbia’s campus has been frozen amid controversy.
The demonstrations drew national attention because of reports of anti-Semitic comments against Jewish students and after Colombian President Nemat “Minouche” Shafik gave New York police permission to sweep the tent camp on Thursday.
Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine, a group that helped organize the protests, said hate speech is not coming from its protesters but rather from “riotous individuals who do not represent us.”
During Johnson’s speech on Wednesday, he called on Shafik to resign if she could not get the protests under control.
Johnson added that he plans to press President Joe Biden for executive action against the protests if necessary: ”If this is not quickly contained and these threats and intimidation are not stopped, the time is right for the National Guard.”
Biden has so far condemned both reported anti-Semitism and “those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians,” as he put it to reporters on Monday.
Johnson’s speech on Wednesday came hours after Biden formally signed a long-awaited foreign aid bill for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan that had been effectively stalled in the House for weeks due to political gridlock.
The measure was revived largely because of Johnson’s decision to put the proposed foreign aid up for a vote in the House on Saturday, despite threats of removal from hardliners in his party like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. The foreign aid bill passed the House of Representatives on Saturday and received official approval from the Senate late Tuesday evening.
After more than a week of bipartisan cooperation with Democrats to pass the relief bill, Johnson’s speech in Columbia appeared to be an attempt to bolster his conservative confidence over his hardline colleagues in the Republican Party.
The speaker was joined by Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., chairwoman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, and Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y.
“My message to the students at camp is go back to class,” Johnson said. “Stop wasting your parents’ money.”
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2024-04-24 21:58:53
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