Suddenly, America is awash in anti-Israeli “student protests,” threats on Jewish students, building and land takeovers, violent encounters between masked agitators and police, colleges canceling classes and commencements, and property destroyed. Why? Eight unasked questions.
First, is this free speech? No. Basic concepts must be understood. While the First Amendment guarantees free speech, tonic for government overreach, it does not allow civil or uncivil disturbance, even if principled.
Civil disobedience, even done peaceably, is not constitutionally protected free speech. It creates consequences, including potential jail time. It must be in a society based on laws.
Notably, creating “substantial disruption” at a school justifies faster discipline and more arrests. Since Tinker v. Des Moines (1969), the Supreme Court has followed the 5th Circuit’s Burnside v. Byars (1966), forbidding “materially or substantially” interfering with a school’s “operation.”
Nor does a school need to wait until chaos breaks out, if there is a “reasonable forecast of disturbance.” Just read the 6th Circuit’s Melton v. Young (1972) case.
In 2021, the test was affirmed by the Supreme Court, in the context of off-campus social media postings not inciting violence. Read Mahanoy Area School District.
But to be clear, what we are seeing, as dozens of campuses are “substantially disrupted,” physically overtaken, and civil and uncivil unrest promoted, is patently illegal.
Second, why are the arrested protesters older? Why are protesters not acting like students, instead pushing a fast process of mass disruption, bursting through gates, creating encampments?
Many “student protesters” are not students. If you look at arrest records, many are professional disrupters, agitators, activists, and promotors of chaos. Many have criminal records for sowing social unrest. Their actions are – in a word – illegal.
Third, why Israel, why now? If outrage over human rights is somehow the business of American students – from Gaza to Xinjiang (China), Odesa (Ukraine) to Pyongyang (North Korea), Caracas (Venezuela) to Naypyidaw (Burma), Havana (Cuba) to Khartoum (Sudan) – why is there suddenly a nationwide upheaval over Israel, nothing about … China?
After all, China detains, kills, imprisons, and tortures millions annually. No protests? Russia has killed at least 60,000 Ukrainians. No protests? North Korea holds 26 million in a prison camp, forced labor, abuse of women, and torture. No protests?
Why is the nation suddenly afire with anti-Israeli, increasingly anti-Jewish, protests – drifting evermore toward political violence, reactions slow, targeting clear? Likely by design.
Fourth, why violent? For years, anti-South Africa protests ebbed and flowed, shantytowns gracing college campuses – including mine, at Dartmouth. The issue was apartheid, exactly the claim g made by Gazans, but violence was not part of that equation. Why now?
South African divestment was the call, but no mass violence here, so why violent now? Could it be that violence in America, starting on campuses, is after all the real goal?
Fifth, why synchronize? Unlike in any other protest, Vietnam, South Africa, climate hysteria, this anti-Israel network has sprung up overnight, nationwide, is systematic, identical on each campus, and synchronized. Why?
The answer, reflecting a modern trend toward rapid-fire, professional rioters shipped around the country – in numbers close to illegal alien shipments – is coordinated intent, to create chaos.
In sum, these are not organic, morality-based, end-of-discussion riots, not the product of thoughtful dialogue about Gaza or innocent Palestinians. They are darker – preplanned chaos.
Sixth, who is behind this? Think for a moment … about how many green tents, sheets of plywood, high-powered flashlights, “riot consultants,” and big dollars are bankrolling all this. Someone is. Not likely students, who are after all waiting for loan forgiveness checks.
No, this is bankrolled by dark money, a manufactured “movement” tied to non-profits promoting socialism, illegal immigration, radical transformation, and Marxist ideas. A search of stories across all media shows many groups involved are patently anti-American and hardly conversational.
Seventh, why on campuses – specifically, why anti-Israel on campuses? The answer is students are malleable, and once discontent is sown, they are easily moved to rash acts.
Consider anti-American Saul Alinsky, a radical seemingly admired by Obama, Sanger, Ayers, Soros, and Hillary Clinton. Biden would even probably cite him if he could remember who he is.
Alinsky: “The despair is there; now it is up to us to go in and rub raw the sores of discontent, galvanize them for radical social change.” To this, he added, as if his antisemitism needed highlighting: “Our world has always had two kinds of changers, the social changers and the money changers.” Concentrated chaos, starting on campuses and working outward, is the goal.
Eighth, are universities complicit? Yes, they are. The faculty of most, especially elite ones, are left-leaning. This trend has accelerated, with more than 80 percent identifying with the left, suggesting complicity. They are also increasingly influenced by China.
So what is to be done? Those involved should be promptly arrested, and prosecuted, links to foreign countries and domestic radical groups unearthed, and legal action against all swiftly taken. Full stop.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC.
