Senators Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) asked President Joe Biden to deploy the National Guard to Columbia University in New York City to protect Jewish students amid vehement pro-Palestine and anti-Israel demonstrations on campus.
Protests at Columbia began on April 17, with leftist student groups opposing Israel’s actions in Gaza, retaliation for Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack that killed thousands. On April 18, over 100 people from the campus were arrested. Some protestors resumed demonstrations the next day. The incident triggered concerns about growing anti-Semitism on campus. In social media posts on Monday, the start of the Jewish holiday of Passover, Sens. Cotton and Hawley called for the National Guard to be deployed to bring the situation under control.
