U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Los Angeles) attends a press conference at Columbia University in response to pro-Palestinian demonstrators amid ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in New York City, U.S., April 24, 2024 day.
David Dee Delgado | David Dee Delgado Reuters
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, gave a speech at Columbia University on Wednesday to denounce ongoing student protests against Israel’s bombing of Gaza, struggling to speak to a heckling crowd.
“Enjoy your freedom of speech” Johnson tersely, pausing his prepared remarks to wait for the jeers to subside.
The Columbia University campus has been frozen by the controversy since April 17, when student protesters set up tent encampments to protest the war in Gaza.
The demonstrations drew national attention after reports of anti-Semitic remarks against Jewish students and Colombian President Nemat “Minouche” Shafiq The New York Police Department was authorized Thursday to clear tent encampments.
Columbia Students for Justice in PalestineThe group that helped organize the protests said any hate speech did not come from protesters but from “incendiary individuals who do not represent us.”
In a speech on Wednesday, Johnson called on Shafiq to resign if he cannot control the protests.
Johnson added that he planned to urge President Joe Biden to take executive action in response to the protests if necessary: ”If this is not contained quickly, if these threats and intimidation do not stop, the National Guard will have the appropriate amount of time.”
Biden told reporters on Monday that he had so far condemned anti-Semitism in reporting and “those who don’t understand what is happening to the Palestinians.”
Hours before Johnson spoke Wednesday, Biden formally signed a long-awaited foreign aid bill targeting Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan that has effectively stalled in the House for weeks due to political gridlock.
The measure was revived in large part because of Johnson’s decision to put the proposed foreign aid on the House floor for a vote on Saturday, despite recall threats from party hardliners such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. . The foreign aid bill passed the House of Representatives on Saturday and was formally approved by the Senate on Tuesday night.
After more than a week of bipartisanship to pass the aid bill, Johnson’s speech in Columbia appeared to be an attempt to bolster his conservative bona fides to fellow hardline Republicans.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-Calif., chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee, and Rep. Mike Lawler, D-N.Y., also spoke.
“My message to the students in the camp is: Get back in class,” Johnson said. “Stop wasting your parents’ money.”
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