The UN ambassador talked to Palestinian high school students in Philly who are critical of Biden on Gaza

PHILADELPHIA — As protests over the war in Gaza continued on campuses around the country, sparking some condemnation from the White House on Tuesday, the United States’ ambassador to the United Nations visited Philadelphia and encouraged high school students here to “make their voices heard.”

Linda Thomas-Greenfield spoke to students at William W. Bodine High School for International Affairs after a private meeting with six Palestinian students at the school.

”I just met with six of your classmates who gave me a very hard time on what our policies are in Gaza,” she told the students. ”And what I said to them, and I say to you, is you need to make your voices heard. And you have the opportunity with a member of President Biden’s cabinet to make your voices heard on any number of policy issues and it’s not something that young people around the world always get the opportunity to do.”

The school did not make the Palestinian students available to talk to reporters.

Thomas-Greenfield, in an interview with The Inquirer said It was an “extraordinarily emotional,” conversation.

”They were angry but respectful. I will say that and they had this sense that nobody is listening to them.”

The Biden administration on Tuesday condemned the actions of protesters at Columbia University, who took over and barricaded themselves in a building on campus early Tuesday.

”President Biden has stood against repugnant, antisemitic smears and violent rhetoric his entire life. He condemns the use of the term “intifada,” as he has the other tragic and dangerous hate speech displayed in recent days,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates said in a statement Tuesday.

Thomas-Greenfield said if protest speech crosses into promoting violence it shouldn’t be tolerated.

“I think if you want to have your voice heard, you can’t do it through violence. You can’t do it through hatred. And we’re seeing some of that,” she told The Inquirer.

...continued

swipe to next page