In response to recent college protests across the nation, U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday said in a brief speech that he supports peaceful protests, but vandalism, violence, hate speech and other chaos had nothing to do with peaceful protests. “Dissent must never lead to disorder,” he said.
When asked whether the protests at American campuses have made him rethink his Middle East policy, Biden said no.
Despite that, the multi-day wave of campus anti-war protests is indeed a manifestation of young Americans’ discontent with how the Biden administration is managing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A recent CNN poll found that 71 percent of American adults surveyed were dissatisfied with the Biden administration’s handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Among those under the age of 35, 81 percent were dissatisfied.
