Tennessee congressman says he wouldn’t expect protesters to ‘last a day’ in Gaza, suggesting he wants them to be killed.
Rep. Ogles Introduces Bill
To Send College Protesters To Gaza
Dave DeCamp / Antiwar.com
(May 9, 2024) — Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) introduced a bill in the House on Wednesday designed to send college protesters to Gaza.
According to Fox News, the bill doesn’t specifically mention the protests against Israel’s slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza that have swept college campuses across the country but targets anyone convicted of “unlawful activity.”
The full text of the bill hasn’t been released, but the title says it would “require persons convicted of unlawful activity on the campus of an institution of higher education beginning on and after October 7, 2023, to provide community service in Gaza.”
Ogles said the minimum amount of time the protesters would have to spend in Gaza would be six months. “If you support a terrorist organization, and you participate in unlawful activity on campuses, you should get a taste of your own medicine,” he said.
The Tennessee Republican also suggested he expects the protesters to be killed in Gaza by saying, “I am going to bet that these pro-Hamas supporters wouldn’t last a day, but let’s give them the opportunity.”
The bill was co-sponsored by Reps. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) and Randy Weber (R-TX). It’s the latest in a slew of legislation that’s been introduced in Congress to crack down on the protests, which have been falsely labeled as “antisemitic” despite the fact that Jewish students are participating in the demonstrations.
Ogles also introduced another bill targeting the protesters that would revoke student visas of foreign citizens who were arrested during the demonstrations. “These antisemitic, anti-America riots have wreaked havoc and chaos on campuses, leading to the cancellation of commencements and in-person classes. It is unacceptable that we would allow non-Americans to terrorize our institutions of higher learning,” he said.
Ogles suggested foreign students could go study in Gaza, but Israel has destroyed every university in the Strip.
Senate Bill Seeks to Place
Campus Protesters on No-Fly List
Kyle Anzalone / Libertarian Institute
(May 9, 2024) — A bill introduced in the Senate by two Republicans seeks to place campus protesters on a no-fly list. Across the country, pro-Palestinian students are gathering on campuses and demanding their universities cut ties with the Israeli government over Tel Aviv’s ruthless onslaught in Gaza. Across the political spectrum, US politicians attempt to smear the protesters’ pro-Palestinian viewpoint as antisemitic.
According to the legislation posted on Senator Marsha Blackburn’s website on Wednesday, S.4274 will require the US government to place the campus protesters on a no-fly list.
A press release from Blackburn and her Republican colleague Roger Marshall explains, “The No Flights For Terrorists Act, would put any individual including: students, faculty, professors, or paid agitators, on the No-Fly List if they have called for violence against Jewish people, pledged allegiance to US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations, or have been subject to disciplinary action by the institution of higher education related to such action.”
It adds, “This legislative action comes in response to the continued antisemitic, pro-Hamas protests and encampments that have wreaked violence and chaos on college campuses nationwide.” Blackburn has also called for campus protesters to have their student loans revoked and supports a separate bill that would prevent the activists from having federal student loans relieved.
Last month, pro-Palestinian protests spread from Columbia in New York City to the rest of the country. The rallies and encampments have been overwhelmingly peaceful and involved Jewish students and organizations. The protesters are demanding their universities cut ties with the Israeli government because Tel Aviv is conducting a genocide in Gaza.
Still, the students and their supporters have been smeared as anti-Semitic and anti-American by leaders across the political spectrum. Sen. Marshall said, “Hamas terrorist sympathizers don’t just hate Israel, they hate America and everything we stand for. These radical Marxists who are doing Hamas’ bidding across the country on college campuses, threatening the safety of our Jewish students and communities, should be treated the same way we treat the terrorist organization.”
President Joe Biden made similar remarks on Tuesday. “On college campuses, Jewish students blocked, harassed, attacked while walking to class. Antisemitism — antisemitic posters, slogans calling for the annihilation of Israel, the world’s only Jewish State.”
The President continued, “There is no place on any campus in America — any place in America — for antisemitism or hate speech or threats of violence of any kind — whether against Jews or anyone else. Violent attacks, destroying property is not peaceful protest.”
He added, “It’s against the law. And we are not a lawless country. We’re a civil society. We uphold the rule of law.”
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