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 military operation in Gaza. Across the political spectrum, US politicians attempt to smear all 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 as they have charged Tel Aviv with 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."
Wow! Sens. Roger Marshall (R-KS) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) have introduced a bill that would designate student protesters "Terrorists" and add them to the "No Fly List" (with zero judicial oversight) for protesting Israel, which is deemed "violence against the Jewish people"! pic.twitter.com/ITa7aWFQbS
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) May 8, 2024
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."
