Dave Clark, a Jewish KSU student who is a member of the university’s Chabad and Hillel groups, said the pro-Palestinian demonstrators made him feel unsafe on campus.

Several of the pro-Palestinian students pushed back, saying they peacefully calling for an end to the bloodshed in Gaza.

Clark, a history major, criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said he believes Israel’s offensive in Gaza is damaging the Jewish nation’s standing in the world.

“I don’t think it reads well,” Clark said, likening the conflict in Gaza to the U.S. wars in Vietnam and Iraq. “However, sometimes you gotta do what’s necessary to protect your people.”

Though they disagreed on Middle East policy, both Clark and Dabdoub were critical of Emory University’s handling of the protest on its campus.

“I don’t believe protesters should be arrested,” said Clark. “As much as I disagree with these people, as much as I think they want me dead, I think in America we shouldn’t arrest people (for protesting). It’s the First Amendment.”

Students on the Emory campus have felt heightened tensions the last few months and junior Caleb Bunch said he wanted to stand in support with students who have been feeling oppressed on campus since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. He attended the morning demonstration and returned Thursday evening.

Bunch said school administrators and staff should attend future gatherings to understand the feelings students are trying to voice during demonstrations. He expressed frustrations regarding emails the university sent students, claiming that Emory officials don’t have a “true understanding of what’s going on” campus.

“It’s a little alarming,” he said of the police response as he watched a Georgia State Patrol trooper ride into the quad on a motorcycle. “I don’t really understand why it’s necessary to have (the) GSP be here especially riding in on motorcycles. But I definitely think it’s important to show solidarity. For progress to actually happen, it does take uncomfortable situations like these.”

In a statement, Emory said that around 7:40 a.m., protesters arrived, pushed past campus police and “set up tents in an area where equipment and materials were staged for Commencement.

Emory requested help from the Atlanta Police Department and Georgia State Patrol after campus police “issued multiple warnings at different intervals advising individuals in the encampment that they were trespassing on private property and instructing them to leave,” the statement said.

One person not affiliated with Emory, attacked an officer and was subsequently tased, it said.

The state patrol said officers responding “were met with protestors who threw bottles and refused to leave.”

“During the encampment protest response, Troopers deployed pepper balls to control the unruly crowd but did not use tear gas,” the agency said, adding that any charges would be issued by the Emory Police Department.

Emory’s graduation is scheduled for May 13; the speaker will be Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice, president and CEO of Morehouse School of Medicine.

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