XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.misc, soc.culture.israel   
   XPost: alt.politics   
   From: d@ray   
      
   D. Ray  wrote:   
   > Austin, Texas – Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) supported the arrest of   
   > dozens of student protestors and issued threats of expulsion from Texan   
   > Universities on Wednesday, over what he called acts of “antisemitism.”   
   >   
   > The shocking, constitutionally fraught police action would come amid mass   
   > arrests and violence at several American colleges, aimed at cracking down   
   > on pro-Palestine rhetoric now found coast to coast.   
   >   
   > “Arrests being made right now & will continue until the crowd disperses,”   
   > proclaimed Abbott on X, formerly Twitter. “These protesters belong in   
   > jail.”   
   >   
   > “Antisemitism will not be tolerated in Texas. Period. Students joining in   
   > hate-filled, antisemitic protests at any public college or university in   
   > Texas should be expelled,” the post continued.   
   >   
   > The post was in reply to a shocking video depicting armored members of the   
   > Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) physically removing throngs of   
   > peaceful protestors from an outdoor common area of the University of Texas   
   > in Austin. According to reports, the clashes between pro-Palestine   
   > demonstrators and police would culminate in over 30 arrests.   
   >   
   > Painted as a “tense standoff,” the highly televised event also saw the   
   > concerning use of police on horseback, rounding up American citizens for   
   > merely expressing political views contrary to the state of Israel.   
   > Nationally, over 100 would be arrested.   
   >   
   > The protest at UT Austin was said to have been organized by the Palestinian   
   > Solidarity Committee, which directed students to “occupy” the South Lawn   
   in   
   > order to raise awareness of the ongoing Palestinian genocide. In response,   
   > the University had sent a letter urging organizers to cancel the event,   
   > prior to the hostilities on Wednesday.   
   >   
   > “Simply put, the University of Texas at Austin will not allow this campus   
   > to be ‘taken’ and protestors to derail our mission in ways that groups   
   > affiliated with your national organization have accomplished elsewhere,”   
   > the letter read.   
   >   
   > Online commentators were quick to point out Governor Abbott’s apparent   
   > hypocrisy. In 2019, the long-time supporter of Israel once signed a law   
   > designed specifically to “protect free speech on campus.” This stunning   
   > policy reversal led many to see Abbott as merely a tool of international   
   > Zionism, attacking him for a perceived “America last” position.   
   >   
   > “Incredibly disturbing footage out of Texas where authorities appear to be   
   > barring any pro-Palestinian protest at all in open outdoor areas of   
   > campus,” read a post by First Amendment attorney Alex Morey on X/Twitter.   
   > “…This appears to be a blatant violation not just of the First Amendment   
   > but S.B. 18, which requires these spaces be open to protest.”   
   >   
   > “Who can curtail Americans’ speech most aggressively for Israel? Winner   
   > gets an all-expense paid trip to the Western Wall and a special   
   > commemorative Yarmulke,” said Journalist Michael Tracy, also to X/Twitter.   
   >   
   > Others, however, pointed to the grim reality of Abbott’s military-style   
   > crackdown on free expression. Political podcaster and anti-Zionist Mike   
   > Peinovich said the move was made specifically to arrest and identify   
   > pro-Palestine leftists in order to politically gatekeep them from future   
   > positions of prestige.   
   >   
   > “(Jews) want, and in some cases have succeeded, in getting the cops to go   
   > in and bust heads. They then want to dox and ruin the future of anyone   
   > involved, as well as impose legal costs on the Universities for mental   
   > health damage to Jewish students…” read a post to X/Twitter.   
   >   
   > “Ultimately, their goal is to make pro-Palestine activism so personally and   
   > institutionally costly and to create such a stigma associated with it that   
   > University communities police themselves for it and the internal cultures   
   > shift to make Palestine out of bounds like Nazism is,” read another.   
   >   
   > Abbott, the Republican governor who has so far done little to stem the flow   
   > of thousands of foreign migrants from entering the United States illegally,   
   > has often signaled support for the regime in Tel Aviv. In March, Abbott   
   > personally signed Executive Order No. GA-44, a brutal hate speech policy   
   > designed to “address(ing) acts of antisemitism in institutions of higher   
   > education.”   
   >   
   > The law was panned as a blatant “attack” on the First Amendment, made to   
   > protect Jews from criticism as the war on Gaza continues into 2024.   
   >   
   > Abbott’s decision to send in “shock troops” to disperse peaceful   
   student   
   > protestors fell in line with international calls to deal with anti-Zionist   
   > rhetoric on American campuses. In a publicized address, Israeli Prime   
   > Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally called for a heavy-handed crackdown,   
   > handwaving protestors as merely “antisemitic mobs” in support of   
   “genocidal   
   > terrorists.”   
   >   
   > “Antisemitic mobs have taken over leading universities,” said the Israeli   
   > leader to an audience on Wednesday. “They call for the annihilation of   
   > Israel…They say not only death to Israel, death to the Jews, but death to   
   > America.”   
   >   
   > “This tells us there is an antisemitic urge that has terrible   
   > consequences,” he continued.   
   >   
   > Abbott has found allies in many mainstream GOP politicians seeking to court   
   > the Israel lobby. On Tuesday, one day before the political repression at U   
   > of T, Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton bizarrely referred to pro-Palestine   
   > protests at New York’s Columbia University as a “nascent pogrom,” and   
   even   
   > urged President Joe Biden to send in the National Guard to suppress   
   > criticism of Israel by force.   
   >   
   > “The nascent pogroms at Columbia have to stop TODAY, before our Jewish   
   > brethren sit for Passover Seder tonight,” said Cotton in a breathless   
   > tweet. “If Eric Adams won’t send the NYPD and Kathy Hochul won’t send   
   the   
   > National Guard, Joe Biden has a duty to take charge and break up these   
   > mobs.”   
   >   
   > Cotton previously drew controversy for his rabidly pro-Zionist rhetoric   
   > when he urged American drivers to “take matters into their own hands”   
   when   
   > dealing with pro-Palestine protestors who block traffic. The tweet, which   
   > earned millions of views on social media, appeared to call for vigilante   
   > justice against Israel’s critics, up to and including throwing them from   
   > bridges.   
   >   
   > Meanwhile, support for Israel continues to decline rapidly as it   
      
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