Speaker Johnson Calls on 'Very Weak' Columbia University President to Resign Over Pro-Hamas Protests

The campus of Columbia University remained tense after another confrontation between pro-Hamas, anti-Israel students and police was averted Wednesday morning, with university officials saying they would continue negotiations with the demonstrators for another 48 hours.

We'll get back to the notion of "negotiations" with these radicals in a bit.

University President Minouche Shafik had set a Tuesday midnight deadline to reach an agreement on clearing an encampment of demonstrators on campus, but the school extended negotiations with the radicals, saying Columbia is making “important progress.”

House Speaker Johnson calls on Columbia University President Minouche Shafik to resign https://t.co/VYAyipWw6t #FoxNews
— Bo Snerdley (@BoSnerdley) April 24, 2024

Enough is enough. House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday called for Shafik's resignation.

Johnson told radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt that he would hold a press conference at Columbia later on Wednesday "with some of my colleagues from the House Republicans from New York to call on the president of the university to resign."

Johnson didn't pull any punches, justifiably calling Shafik "very weak" and "inept."

This President Shafik has shown to be a very weak, inept leader. They cannot even guarantee the safety of Jewish students? They are expected to run for their lives and stay home from class? It’s maddening.
What we are seeing on these college campuses across the country is disgusting and unacceptable and every leader in this country, every political official, every citizen of good conscience has to speak out and say that ‘this is not who we are in America.’ And we got to have accountability and that is what my colleagues and I will be working on.

The speaker was spot on. Look, if you're a university president negotiating with antisemitic demonstrators who have physically abused Jewish students and refuse to tear down their encampment and leave your campus, you've already lost the game.

The speaker continued:

We have Jewish students who have actually been physically assaulted, they have been harassed, they have been intimidated and threatened... we need to revoke federal funding to these universities if they cannot keep control.
We need to revoke these student visas for these violent protesters. You don’t have a right to be here and to do this, but Jewish students have a right to be able to peacefully attend classes. They are trying to get an education. This is just madness.

Johnson also told Hewitt, "I’ve seen some of these 'man on the street' interviews with some of these kids who are protesting; you and I both know the vast majority of them have no idea what they are talking about," continuing:

They don’t know the facts, some of them are denying that October 7 even happened. It’s ridiculous. And we are relying on and calling upon and demanding these university officials to get control of the situation, it’s just completely out of control right now.

Ah, but there it is, Mr. Speaker. The left doesn't give a damn about facts — particularly facts that contradict their various narratives. One need only look at anthropogenic "climate change" and COVID-19 for perfect examples.

Johnson took it hard to the paint against Joe Biden and his administration for their (non)handling of antisemitic demonstrations in general.

The White House is caving to the antisemitic – I call it the pro-Hamas wing – of the party right now. They have backpedaled on their support for Israel and you have got members of Congress who refuse to denounce even the chants of ‘Death to America!’, they just go silent, they won’t call that out.
Some Democrat members of Congress are even calling these antisemitic mobs ‘peaceful protesters’ and defending the harassment and intimidation of all the rest. It’s really become a serious problem and they are allowing mob rule to overtake the American ideals of free speech, the free exchange of ideas and the free exercise of religion. This is not who we are.

This might not be who "we" are, but it's exactly who the radical left is.

The Bottom Line

To further Speaker Johnson's point, Joe Biden and the Democrat Party have poured gasoline on the pro-Hamas, pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel demonstrations from the beginning— meaning with Biden's disgusting try-to-have-it-both-ways response in the aftermath of the horrific October 7 Hamas attack inside Israel that left more than 1,300 Israeli citizens dead and the Jewish state's warranted response.

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