议长迈克·约翰逊声称哈马斯支持哥伦比亚大学和其他美国大学的亲巴勒斯坦反以色列抗议活动，并于周四威胁国会干预，包括从这些机构中撤出联邦资金。
“在哈马斯手中发生的事情是可怕的，然而这些抗议者却在那里为犯下这些罪行的人摇旗呐喊。这不是我们在美国的样子，”众议院共和党领袖约翰逊在2007年表示周四早上在X上的一篇帖子。美国广播公司新闻没有记录任何像约翰逊暗示的那样抗议者挥舞哈马斯旗帜的案例。
哥伦比亚大学和其他学校的学生抗议主要是谴责以色列在加沙的军事行动，并表示支持巴勒斯坦平民，而不是表示支持哈马斯。学校管理人员和官员表示，校园内的抗议活动基本上是和平的。
约翰逊援引哈马斯周三发表的一份声明称，哈马斯特别“支持”了始于4月17日的哥伦比亚抗议活动。约翰逊补充道X上的一个独立帖子“纳税人的钱不应该流向允许这种混乱的机构。”
在哈马斯的声明中，其发言人伊扎特·里舍克指责乔·拜登总统“因大学生和教职员工拒绝接受新纳粹犹太复国主义者在加沙地带对我们巴勒斯坦人民实施的种族灭绝而逮捕他们，侵犯了个人权利和言论权利。”
Al-Risheq在声明中写道:“今天的学生是未来的领导人，今天对他们的压制意味着拜登政府迟早要支付昂贵的选举账单。
针对哈马斯的声明，白宫副新闻秘书安德鲁·贝茨告诉美国广播公司新闻，“哈马斯对犹太人进行了自大屠杀以来最致命的屠杀，这使他们成为在这个问题上最不可信的声音。”
“哈马斯的反对，在他们的‘纯粹的邪恶’行为之后——他们已经承诺‘一次又一次’重复——是拜登总统道德清晰的证明。拜登总统一生都反对反犹太主义。他永远不会停止，”贝茨说。
约翰逊在周四发表评论的第二天他参观了哥伦比亚大学在那里，他会见了犹太学生，并与他在纽约众议院的共和党同事一起呼吁该校校长米诺什·沙菲克辞职，如果她不能为抗议活动带来秩序的话。在一次演讲中，抗议者的嘘声和叫喊声经常盖过演讲者的话语，约翰逊认为有必要派遣国民警卫队进行干预。
在周三接受美国广播公司新闻的Linsey Davis采访时，约翰逊引用了这份声明，并表示哈马斯将哥伦比亚的抗议者视为美国未来的领导人。
“我们应该希望不会，”约翰逊说。“哈马斯是恐怖组织。”
约翰逊说，如果大学不能保持对抗议活动的控制和防止暴力，联邦资金应该被撤销。
“如果(学校管理者)不能控制这一点，我们将从这些大学拿走资金。约翰逊告诉戴维斯:“国会有责任这样做，我们将使用这笔钱的权力，我们将追究这些行政人员的责任。”。
虽然约翰逊提到了校园暴力，但纽约警察局本周早些时候表示，哥伦比亚大学的抗议活动没有对任何特定群体或个人构成可信的威胁。该部门表示，尚未收到任何学生受到身体伤害的报告。
上周，100多名亲巴勒斯坦抗议者被捕在哥伦比亚大学，他们呼吁从以色列的军事行动中撤资。哥伦比亚正在进行的露营式抗议的其他参与者被暂停资格，并被逐出校园。
示威发生之前，沙菲克在众议院教育和劳动力委员会就大学校园的反犹太主义发表了证词，她在证词中表示，自10月7日的恐怖袭击引发以色列与哈马斯的战争以来，她已经采取行动打击哥伦比亚大学的反犹太主义。
纽约共和党众议员Elise Stefanik几天后要求沙菲克辞职，他在X上的一篇帖子中写道，哥伦比亚大学“未能执行自己的校园规则，保护校园内的犹太学生。”
虽然抗议期间出现了一些暴力和攻击性或反犹太主义言论，但学校管理人员、纽约警方和抗议者本人大多将这一活动归咎于与学校无关的个人。
"...与哥伦比亚大学无关的人来到校园追求自己的目标，他们利用并放大了紧张局势，”沙菲克本周早些时候说。
哥伦比亚大学发言人Ben Chang说，学生在校园里扎营引起了严重的安全问题。他补充说，哥伦比亚大学不会容忍骚扰和歧视行为，该大学将调查是否有学生抗议者违反了社区规则。
针对一些学生在校园紧张局势下对安全的担忧，一些大学选择了远程或混合学习方式。
Speaker Johnson alleges Hamas support for anti-Israel campus protests, threatens intervention
Speaker Mike Johnson, claiming that Hamas supports the pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protests at Columbia University and at other U.S. colleges, on Thursday threatened congressional intervention, including pulling federal funding from the institutions.
"The things that have happened at the hands of Hamas are horrific, and yet these protestors are out there waving flags for the very people who committed those crimes. This is not who we are in America," Johnson, the top House Republican, said ina post on X on Thursday morning. ABC News has not documented any cases of protesters waving Hamas flags, as Johnson suggested.
Student protests at Columbia and other schools have primarily denounced Israeli military action in Gaza and expressed support for Palestinian civilians, rather than expressing support for Hamas. School administrators and officials have said the protests on their campuses have been largely peaceful.
Citing a statement Hamas issued Wednesday, Johnson said Hamas "backed" the protests at Columbia specifically, which began April 17. Johnson added ina separate post on Xthat "taxpayer dollars should not be going to institutions that allow this chaos."
In the Hamas statement, its spokesperson Izzat Al-Risheq blamed President Joe Biden for "violating the individual rights and the right to expression through arresting university students and faculty members for their rejection of the genocide to which our Palestinian people are being subjected in the Gaza Strip at the hands of the neo-Nazi Zionists."
"Today's students are the leaders of the future, and their suppression today means an expensive electoral bill that the Biden administration will pay sooner or later," Al-Risheq wrote in the statement.
In response to Hamas' statement, White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates told ABC News that "Hamas perpetrated the deadliest massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust, which makes them the least credible voice that exists on this subject."
"Hamas' disapproval, after their acts of 'unadulterated evil' -- which they've pledged to repeat 'again and again' -- is a testament to President Biden's moral clarity. President Biden has stood against Antisemitism his entire life. And he will never stop," Bates said.
Johnson's comments on Thursday came a day afterhe visited Columbia University, where he met with Jewish students and joined his New York House Republican colleagues in calling for the school's president, Minouche Shafik, to resign if she can't bring order to the protests. In a speech, during which boos and shouts from protesters often overpowered the speaker's words, Johnson considered the need to send the National Guard to intervene.
In an interview with ABC News' Linsey Davis on Wednesday, Johnson cited the statement and said Hamas sees Columbia's protesters as the future leaders of America.
"We should hope not," Johnson said. "Hamas is a terrorist organization."
Johnson said federal funding should be revoked if universities cannot maintain control of the protests and prevent violence.
"If [school administrators] can't get control of this, we will take the funding away from these universities. The Congress has a responsibility to do that, the power of the purse, and we will use it, and we will hold these administrators accountable," Johnson told Davis.
While Johnson mentioned violence on campus, the New York Police Department said earlier this week that there are no credible threats to any particular group or individual as a result of the protests at Columbia University. The department said it had not received any reports of physical harm toward any students.
Last week,more than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrestedat Columbia as they called for the divestment of college and university funds from Israeli military operations. Other participants in Columbia's ongoing, encampment-style protests were suspended and removed from campus.
The demonstrations followed Shafik's testimony before the House Committee on Education and the Workforce about antisemitism on college campuses, during which she said she has taken actions to combat antisemitism at Columbia since a terror attack on Oct. 7 sparked Israel's war with Hamas.
New York GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik called for Shafik's resignation days later, writing in a post on X that Columbia "failed to enforce their own campus rules and protect Jewish students on campus."
While there have been some instances of violence and offensive or antisemitic rhetoric during the protests, school administrators, New York police and protesters themselves have largely blamed that activity on individuals not affiliated with the schools.
"... Tensions have been exploited and amplified by individuals who are not affiliated with Columbia who have come to campus to pursue their own agendas,"Shafik said earlier this week.
Columbia spokesman Ben Chang said the student encampment on campus has raised serious safety concerns. He added that Columbia will not tolerate harassment and discriminatory behavior, and the university will investigate to see if any student protestors violated community rules.
In response to some student concerns about safety amid on-campus tension, some universities have responded by opting for remote or hybrid learning options.
