Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt drew a red line this week for pro-Palestinian protesters at college campuses across the U.S.
On Monday, Stitt appeared on Fox News' Fox & Friends and was asked about the protests at colleges like Columbia University, Northwestern University and Yale.
"Who are these people saying they encourage that [Hamas] or they stand with Hamas," Stitt said. "I would kick them out of the universities. This is unbelievable."
"We believe in freedoms but this is unbelievable. When we see people chanting 'death to America,' this is a head scratcher. We don't know what's happening, what's going on," Stitt said. "But those students need to be punished for the anti-semitic activities that are going on."
The context:
Over the past few weeks, a number of college campuses have experienced an increase in pro-Palestinian protests, with students at Columbia University setting up a "Gaza Solidarity Encampment."
Students are calling for their schools to divest from Israel and support the Palestinian people amid the ongoing war in Gaza.
Tensions on campuses have remained high since October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel that left 1,200 people dead and saw more than 200 taken hostage. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began, The Associated Press reported, citing local health officials.
What we know:
At Columbia University, classes are set to be held in a hybrid model for the remainder of the semester amid the ongoing protests.
On Monday, Columbia President Minouche Shafik issued a statement announcing that despite recent negotiations with protest organizers, "we were not able to come to an agreement."
"While the University will not divest from Israel, the University offered to develop an expedited timeline for review of new proposals from the students by the Advisory Committee for Socially Responsible Investing the body that considers divestment matters. The University also offered to publish a process for students to access a list of Columbia's direct investment holdings, and to increase the frequency of updates to that list of holdings," the statement said. "The University also offered to make investments in health and education in Gaza, including supporting early childhood development and support for displaced scholars."
Views:
Student protesters at Columbia are still calling on the school to divest.
"We will not rest until Columbia divests," fourth-year doctoral student Jonathan Ben-Menachem told AP.
In a post to X, formerly Twitter, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the ongoing protests by saying: "Anti-Semitism on campuses in the United States is reminiscent of what happened in German universities in the 1930s. The world cannot stand idly by."
What's next:
The statement issued by Shafik on Monday calls on protesters to "voluntarily disperse."
"We are consulting with a broader group in our community to explore alternative internal options to end this crisis as soon as possible. We will continue to update the community with new developments," the statement said.
It is unclear if the protesters at Columbia University will voluntarily leave their ongoing encampment.
Newsweek has reached out to Stitt's office via email for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Matthew Impelli is a Newsweek staff writer based in New York. His focus is reporting social issues and crime. In ... Read more
