US refuses to comment on Netanyahu's remarks about pro-Palestine protestors, saying he did not call for crackdown

By Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US State Department refused to say Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's comments on pro-Palestine protests at US universities were a call for a crackdown and an interference in American affairs.

“I will leave it to the prime minister's office to offer any clarification on his comments, but I don't believe he called for a crackdown,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said when asked if Netanyahu's remarks were a call for a crackdown on protestors using their right to demonstrate.

When pressed on whether Netanyahu's remarks were an interference by a foreign leader in American affairs, Patel responded: “I wouldn’t equate that to interfering.”

Netanyahu on Wednesday condemned "antisemitic mobs" on US college campuses.

After pro-Palestine students from Harvard University began an encampment, joining other universities across the US to demand a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu released a video message Wednesday that said: "So what’s happening on America’s college campuses is horrific. Antisemitic mobs have taken over leading universities."

“This is reminiscent of what happened in German universities in the 1930s. It’s unconscionable. It has to be stopped,” Netanyahu added.

When reminded by Anadolu about the annual human rights report released Monday by the State Department and asked if violence against protestors undermines the US' human rights message to other countries, Patel said the human rights report is a congressionally mandated, statutorily required report that is required to put out on an assessment of human rights conditions set out around the world.

“It's an assessment of the human rights conditions in other countries,” he added.

Patel said the Biden administration is “still learning more” about events at Texas University, which has seen police officers using violence against a journalist and protestors.

“Of course, you've heard me say that peaceful protests are, of course, acceptable and we fully appreciate and encourage Americans expressing their First Amendment rights and making their opinions heard in a peaceful nonviolent way but hate speech, violent rhetoric, including antisemitic or Islamophobic remarks targeting people for who they are is unacceptable to us,” he added.