Randi Weingarten's American Federation of Teachers defends pro-Hamas campus occupations as 'peacefully demonstrating'
The American Federation of Teachers led by Randi Weingarten claimed that anti-Israel protesters on college campuses were simply "peacefully demonstrating."
The American Federation of Teachers led by Randi Weingarten claimed that anti-Israel protesters on college campuses were simply “peacefully demonstrating.”
The Tuesday statement from the AFT came in response to a hearing last week from the House Education and the Workforce Committee where leaders of Northwestern University, Rutgers University, and the University of California, Los Angeles, were grilled regarding their response to campus anti-Israel encampments.
”AFT members and leaders acknowledged the threat of antisemitism as well as Islamophobia but held strong to support for students—and faculty and staff who have joined them—who are peacefully demonstrating,” the AFT wrote in the press release.
Weingarten wrote that “We have to be able to be against hate and against violence … and stand up for academic freedom and free expression.”
However, May’s anti-Israel occupations, some of which are still ongoing, have largely not been peaceful.
At Columbia University, students broke into a campus building and vandalized it. A university spokesperson said that the anti-Israel protesters broke doors, windows, and blockaded entry into the building.
Anti-Israel protesters at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt caused over $1 million in costs, including damage, to the institution after they took over a portion of campus and several buildings.
[RELATED: Graduation ceremonies nationwide plagued by disruptive Pro-Hamas demonstrations]
At the UCLA anti-Israel encampment, which the AFT described as a “peaceful protest,” Jewish students were blocked by activists from using certain portions of campus to get to class.
Mia McIver, president of the California Federation of Teachers Universities Council, wrote that the hearings “were a shameful farce...They are fruit of a decadeslong attack on higher ed.”
