Biden denounces vio­lent cam­pus protests but rejects Nation­al Guard or piv­ot on Israel

Pres­i­dent Joe Biden denounced cam­pus vio­lence in a speech from the White House but reject­ed calls to change his Mid­dle East pol­i­cy or bring in the Nation­al Guard to restore order.
“Peace­ful protest is in the best tra­di­tion of how Amer­i­cans respond to con­se­quen­tial issues,” he said from the Roo­sevelt Room. “But nei­ther are we a law­less coun­try. We are a civ­il soci­ety, and order must pre­vail.”
Col­lege cam­pus­es across the Unit­ed States have seen mas­sive upheaval in recent weeks due to pro-Pales­tin­ian protests, with stu­dents and oth­er pro­test­ers tak­ing over build­ings and set­ting up encamp­ments that have some­times led to vio­lence.
Biden has faced pres­sure to define his stance on the issue, which he did in remarks last­ing rough­ly three min­utes on Thurs­day morn­ing.
“Vio­lent protest is not pro­tect­ed. Peace­ful protest is,” he said. “It’s against the law when vio­lence occurs. Destroy­ing prop­er­ty is not a peace­ful protest. It’s against the law. Van­dal­ism, tres­pass­ing, break­ing win­dows, shut­tin …