TRENTON, NJ – New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has finally spoken publicly about the pro-Palestinian protests that have taken place on the campus of Rutgers University. This week, the university negotiated with protesters who held the campus hostage and demanded that the university divests from any Jewish-owned interests.
Murphy described the settlement between the university as a lost opportunity but said the protesters have the right to protest.
“You have every right to protest,” Murphy said. I may not agree with a thing you say, I may find it despicable, but if you do it peacefully, you have a right to do that, whether I like it or not. And that’s a hallmark of America.”
Murphy criticized the protests, which started as support for Palestine but have morphed into anti-Jewish attacks and threats nationwide. In Washington, D.C., protesters called for the beheading of college officials at George Washington University.
“To the guillotine,” another can be heard shouting, per the report. “Off to the motherf—— gallows with you too,” videos posted to Twitter documented.
At other campuses, students called for Jihad and Intifada.
Fox News host Greg Gutfeld has mocked the movement as “Arab Spring Break”, a reference to the Arab spring movement.
Yet Murphy walked a political tightrope. On one side, he has been an extremely pro-Jewish governor with strong ties in the Orthodox Jewish population centers. On the other hand, while he may not be running for office again, his actions and words could impact Democratic voters in the 2025 gubernatorial and state legislative elections.
Murphy warned universities and protesters that he would not tolerate the exclusion or mistreatment of Jews on New Jersey’s college campuses.
“We cannot allow any institution in the state, certainly not an institution of higher education, to have even a perception that someone is not welcomed, or that they won’t be safe. To me, there’s a lot of wood still left to chop there,” he added.
Jack Ciattarelli, the front-running candidate for governor in the Republican Party criticized the university’s settlement with the protesters saying, “Rather than being negotiated with, students violating school policy should have been removed from campus & expelled. Those breaking the law should have been arrested. When I’m Governor, I can promise you that the Rutgers Administration won’t be acquiescing to any demands.”
Meanwhile, on campus, pro-USA protesters started their own counter-protest to the pro-Hamas encampment.
