Police escalate violent crackdowns on campus pro-Palestine demonstrators: Live

UCLA has joined the pro-Palestine protest movement, according to local activists.

Students on the campus erected an embankment on Thursday, a day after students at the University of California Los Angeles did so and were met with heavy police resistance.

Student protesters at CUNY provided documentation explaining their motivations for establishing an embankment.

The students also want to ban all academic trips to Israel and for protections for students on campus who voice their support for Palestinians during Israel’s war on Gaza.

Police tased a restrained student and fired pepper balls at protesters in Georgia.

Like House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senator Marsha Blackburn has called for Columbia University’s president to resign, arguing that she was unable to keep students from protesting in support of Palestine.

Columbia University president Minouche Shafik is no stranger to navigating complex international issues, having worked at some of the world’s most prominent global financial institutions.

It remains to be seen, however, if her experience with world conflicts has sufficiently equipped her to navigate the thorny challenges she faces amid ongoing student protests over the Israel-Hamas war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a condemnation of the protests taking place at universities across the nation.

“What’s happening in America’s college campuses is horrific,” he said, according to NBC News.

He called the protesters, who are voicing their opposition to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians during its ongoing war in Gaza, an “antisemitic mob”.

“It has to be condemned and condemned unequivocally. But that’s not what happened. The response of several university presidents was shameful,” Mr Netanyahu said.

The Columbia University Office of Public Affairs held a press briefing shortly after House Speaker Mike Johnson left the campus.

Mr Johnson called for the resignation of the university’s president, Minouche Shafik, if she could not immediately quash the ongoing pro-Palestine protests occurring on campus.

Ben Chang, the Vice President for Communications and Spokesperson for Columbia University, addressed reporters, saying the ongoing protests were in violation of university rules, “full stop,” but said the administration would continue its negotiations with students to resolve the issues on campus.

Mr Chang confirmed that Ms Shafik met with Mr Johnson, and said that she shared “the representative’s focus on and commitment to the safety and security of all members of the campus community, as she appreciates help from all of those who offer it”.

He said that Columbia was making advancements in negotiations with student protesters. Those include studnet protest leaders agreeing to complying with FDNY safety guidelines and the dismantling of some of the embankment, as well as the exclusion of protesters who are not enrolled at the institution.

He said that the university would continue to negotiate with students over the course of the next 48 hours.

Mr Chang added that there was never any plan for the university to call in the National Guard to break up the protests.

He condemned any and all discriminatory acts toward any student on the campus, and said any reported instances of harassment or intimidation would be investigated by the university and addressed.

He called the protests “disgusting” and “unnecessary” ahead of his visit. The day before his visit, the UN issued a report that it had found “mass graves” in Gaza, where Palestinians — including women, the elderly, and the wounded — had been found dead. Some of the remains allegedly had their hands bound.

Mr Johnson arrived to chorus of boos and consistent shouts from protesters, including chants of “we can’t hear you.”

The US Senate, on Tuesday evening, finally sent a three-pronged aid package with military assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan to President Joe Biden’s desk, ending months of delays that administration officials and top brass were increasingly blaming for Ukrainian battlefield casualties.

Senators voted 79-18 for the aid package in a largely bipartisan fashion.

Three pieces of legislation that were part of the national security supplemental passed by the Senate, as well as one piece of sidecar legislation dealing with Russia/Iran sanctions, passed the House on Saturday. Combined, they will provide tens of billions of dollars in security and military assistance to US allies in three regions.

Much of the $26.38bn Israel bill is centred around restocking Israeli munitions required for its defences as well as the siege of Gaza, where Israel is attempting to wipe out Hamas militants. $4bn is included for resupplying the Iron Dome defensive grid, and $1.2bn is include for the so-called “Iron Beam”, a ground-based laser system used to take out drones and missiles.

$3.5bn is set aside to help Israel procure weapon systems, while nearly $7bn is marked for restocking US supplies and funding operations in the region.

But some Democrats expressed disappointment at not being able to have amendments to hold Israel accountable as its military campaign in Gaza after the October 7 attack has led to 34,000 deaths. Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont had proposed amendments to restore funding to United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and require Israel not receive unfettered assistance.

“I think it’s beyond belief that, on an issue where the majority of the American people don’t want to continue to support Netanyahu’s war machine slaughter of women and children in Gaza, that we couldn’t even get an amendment to deal with that,” he toldThe Independent earlier in the day.

Mr Sanders’s colleague from Vermont Senator Peter Welch, who supports a ceasefire in Gaza, said that the Senate needed to vote.

“I would have preferred that we have separate votes on each of the items like the House did,” he said, but added that he thought Mr Biden was concerned about reducing civilian casualties.