Anti-Semitic and pro-Hamas rallies have been spreading like hateful wildfire across American universities, with encampments spouting up in UT Austin and Harvard on Wednesday. And on CNN News Central that afternoon, Harvard professor and former Obama DHS official Juliette Kayyem demanded that universities like hers “allow space” for those mini-Nuremberg rallies.
“And I'm pretty clear about this,” Kayyem declared. She demanded that schools “allow space for students to protest” in favor of Hamas. Essentially her defense of the students was ‘kid will be kids.’ “This should not be a shock to anyone with teenagers or young, young adult children. They have strong feelings and they’re passionate,” she argued.
Coddling the anti-Semites, Kayyem said they needed to be given “off ramps” before the schools cracked down on any violent rhetoric or other misconduct. As if the students didn’t agree to a Student Code of Conduct when they joined the school, she huffed: “You've got to give students rules about what they are and are not allowed to do. And maybe this happened at USC, but they have to be clear about, ‘Yes, you can protest. No, you can't block a building and this is what's going to happen if you block the building.’”
She did admit that at some point the schools might need to consider when to get police involved. “I mean in other words, these kids who are violating these rules these students then have some sort of punishment and whether you need the police or something less than that is each college and university’s decision,” she said.
But a few minutes later, Kayyem proved herself to be a hypocrite and declared schools “cannot” get the police involved at all. She whined they were “terrifying students" who were just "expressing their dismay with the war”:
What are the rules of engagement? We cannot put police officers, especially non-university police officers, as we've seen in some of these jurisdictions, just out there fully armed, terrifying students who are maybe they just viewed themselves as just expressing their dismay with the war or their criticisms of the Biden administration.
That wasn’t the only way Kayyem was a hypocrite on the issue.
In 2022, she opposed the Canadian “Freedom Convoy” that was protesting their county’s COVID restrictions by blocking critical roads. She lashed out at them and demanded authorities “slash the tires” of their semi-trucks. “Slash the tires, empty gas tanks, arrest the drivers, and move the trucks,” she wrote.
“The notion that these are rational people that will change if asked is long gone,” she sneered in a follow-up post. “This disruption is an irrational gang and, again, we should stop being so nice.”
Kayyem also used to have a hair-trigger when it came to antisemitism. In 2019, she accused former New York City Mayor Ruby Giuliani of “antisemitism” when he called out Democratic Party dark-money donor George Soros.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
CNN News Central
April 24, 2024
3:10:55 p.m. Eastern(…)
JULIETTE KAYYEM: And so, colleges and universities have to do three things. And I'm pretty clear about this. One, is they do have to allow space for students to protest. I said you've got to give them an outlet. The students are allowed to protest. This should not be a shock to anyone with teenagers or young, young adult children. They have strong feelings and they’re passionate.
Because if you just immediately go to arrest, it's going to cause I think some of the what we're seeing on air which is nothing's happening. And then lots is happening. You want to give students space as long as you're protecting students who want to go to classes, Jewish students, if they’re targeted.
The second is you have to have off ramps. You have to, in terms of these colleges and universities you've got to give students rules about what they are and are not allowed to do. And maybe this happened at USC, but they have to be clear about, “Yes, you can protest. No, you can't block a building and this is what's going to happen if you block the building.”
And then third is, of course, then exert your outcomes, right? I mean in other words, these kids who are violating these rules these students then have some sort of punishment and whether you need the police or something less than that is each college and university’s decision.
(…)
3:14:13 p.m. Eastern
KAYYEM: What are the rules of engagement? We cannot put police officers especially non-university police officers, as we've seen in some of these jurisdictions, just out there fully armed, terrifying students who are maybe they just viewed themselves as just expressing their dismay with the war or their criticisms of the Biden administration.
So, what are the rules of engagement? The second is, is there – is there a reach out as we're seeing in some of these colleges and universities to these student organizations to engage them on what is and is not appropriate activity? In other words, we don't have to treat the protesters as enemies. They just disagree with the institution or they disagree with the government. And that can help de-escalate as well.
And then third, is the punishment that we're talking about. If someone is violent, if someone is threatening students, if someone ought not to be there and is exacerbating the tensions.
(…)
