(NewsNation) — Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., accused students protesting at universities across the U.S. of violating laws through actions like breaking windows, taking over buildings and removing American flags.
Walberg said Tuesday on NewsNation’s “Elizabeth Vargas Reports” that student protesters have “gone way too far” by engaging in “mayhem” and showing “absolute lawlessness and chaos” amid tensions over Middle East conflicts.
“When they are breaking into buildings and causing disarray and mayhem, it’s gone way too far,” Walberg said, citing incidents at Columbia University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
From coast to coast, campus protesters put up tents to protest Israel’s military action in Gaza and demand the school divest from companies they claim “profit from Israeli apartheid.” The number of arrests at campuses nationwide is approaching 1,000. Some Jewish students say the protests have veered into antisemitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus.
Walberg alleged the behavior goes beyond protected free speech rights and violates rules against disruptions on campus. He claimed outside “instigators” have been riling up students who don’t fully understand what they’re protesting.
“These are not students, and we also have heard from various college officials that there are people that don’t have … student IDs that they ought to have to be on campus,” Walberg said.
Walberg is among Republican lawmakers pushing legislation to more broadly define antisemitism, potentially making some protest chants punishable.
The House will vote sometime this week on the “Antisemitism Awareness Act,” which could dramatically redefine what can be incorporated under the blanket of antisemitic acts of harassment. The bill was initially written in a bipartisan manner back in October following Hamas’ deadly incursion into Israel that killed about 1,200 Israelis.
The Antisemitism Awareness Act would require the Education Department to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism when enforcing federal anti-discrimination laws on college campuses.
The definition of antisemitism would change to include denying Jewish “self-determination to their ancestral homeland of Israel.” It would also include holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the Israeli government.
NewsNation’s Elina Shriazi and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
