While America is shaken by student protests, occupations, and the use of police forces to clear university campuses, the American President has remained silent for more than a week. Certainly, this is not a minor event that does not warrant presidential intervention. When Mr. Biden spoke, he confined himself to condemning the anti-Semitic slogans of the students, an entirely expected and necessary act.

In contrast, Donald Trump, his opponent in the upcoming November presidential elections, made statements expressing his enthusiasm for the use of the police in clearing Columbia’s Hamilton Hall of occupations and even compared the student protests to the events of January 6, without there being any point of comparison.

So why is Joe Biden silent?

It is not difficult to understand the reason. This issue is politically and ethically challenging. For Biden to be re-elected, he needs support from both sides. From both American Jews and American Arabs in states such as in Michigan, for example. Moreover, he does not want to provoke the protesters and make the situation even more difficult. So he keeps his mouth shut and hopes that the days will pass, that graduation ceremonies will take place at universities, and that students will go home until September.

However, it is quite possible that he is not calculating correctly. As long as the war rages on and the Israelis continue to kill indiscriminately, it is doubtful whether the protesters will go to the… beaches. In any case, Biden’s ‘silence of fear’ shows how much the balance of political forces has changed in the U.S. A few years ago, he wouldn’t even have thought about openly and vigorously supporting Israel. Now the American President is forced to take into account the other side, the side of the Arabs.

P.S.: Just before the completion of this commentary, Mr. Biden broke his silence with extremely careful wording. He sided with freedom of speech, but emphasized that ‘order must prevail’.