Gaza Rally, May 1, 2024, photo by Abbey Cutrer, Kentucky Kernel. How many were there supporting the rally, and how many were just spectators?

No one has been more supportive of the right of the pro-Hamas demonstrators to exercise their freedom of speech and right to peaceably assemble to proclaim their positions than The First Street Journal has been. We have pointed out how the keffiyeh-wearing activists — and I regard wearing the black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh as qualitatively indistinguishable from wearing a Nazi swastika armband — had their demonstration at the University of Kentucky, made their points in a rally in front of the school’s main library, waved their Palestinian flags, and, when it was over, picked up their stuff and went home. I have supported the right of the Princeton University hunger strikers to starve themselves to make their point, even as I mocked them, because I unequivocally support Israel in their war against Hamas and I support freedom of speech. I have even said that it’s a bit pointless to use force to break up the protest encampments, because, with the semester ending, these encampments will just wither away.

As it happened, the powers that be at the University of Pennsylvania decided against just leaving the encampments alone, and the Philadelphia Police broke it up and arrested some of the campers. They were definitely the Usual Suspects, as Fox 29 News reported that only 7 of the 33 people arrested for ‘defiant trespassing’ were actually Penn students.

Now, there’s this:

Protesters march through University City after Penn encampment disbanded: ‘When they destroy, we build’

Protesters stopped interim university President J. Larry Jameson’s residence near 38th and Walnut Streets, where they held a rally.

by Nick Vadala and Zoe Greenberg | Friday, April 10, 2024 | 11:04 PM EDT

Hours after the dismantling of the pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Pennsylvania, protesters gathered at the Woodlands cemetery on Friday evening before marching through University City.

Protesters stopped interim university President J. Larry Jameson’s residence near 38th and Walnut Streets, where they held a rally. Penn issued an alert that a large demonstration was in the area, and police were on the scene. Video of the rally posted to social media showed protesters banging on the door of Jameson’s home before police pulled them back.

I prefer not to use photos from The Philadelphia Inquirer, but this one documents that Friday night’s march was not peaceable; the marchers were banging on President Jameson’s door, something which might well have cause him to fear for his safety. That is a form of terrorism.

As demonstrators rallied outside, smoke tinted the colors of the Palestinian flag could be seen being released as speakers made remarks.

It was not clear late Friday if anyone had been arrested in connection with the protest. The Philadelphia Police Department did not immediately respond to request for comment.

After stopping at Jameson’s home, the group again began marching again, with a crowd of about 100 people — some waving Palestinian flags and wearing keffiyahs — walking down Chestnut Street before turning left on 33rd.

Around 10:30 p.m., they stood in a large circle in the intersection, clapping and chanting “the students united will never be defeated.” The crowd was peaceful and largely young.

Peaceful? Well, perhaps they were before and after they were at the President’s residence, but they sure weren’t while they were there. The right of peaceable assembly does not include the ‘right’ to trespass on other people’s property, nor the ‘right’ to threaten, intimidate, or terrorize people who disagree with you, or, in these particular cases, are seen as your enemies.

And that has been much of the issue: the pro-Palestinian, pro-Hamas — and, as far as I am concerned, if you are pro-Palestinian, you are pro-Hamas — demonstrations and encampments have been noisy and threatening, to one degree or another, to Jewish students and staff. Chants and signs stating “From the River to the Sea, Palestine must be free” is effectively calling for the complete destruction of Israel and the extermination of the Jews. As Melinda Roth, a professor at George Washington University Law School, noted, signs like “By Any Means Necessary” are, in light of Hamas’ October 7^th attack, endorsements of rape, murder, and terrorism. People have, and should have, their freedom of speech, but once your actions start to trample upon other people’s rights, their right to freely move about, their right to their own property — interestingly, the pro-Hamas ‘encampments’ tended to occur on the grounds of private colleges, not public ones — and people’s safety, the consequences of people’s speech begin to accrue.

We have previously noted that some on the left are aghast that some federal judges have said they will not consider graduates of Columbia University for law clerk positions, that some deep-pockets donors have said that they will close their checkbooks until the universities clean up anti-Semitism on campus, and some have stated that they will not hire graduates who have signed anti-Semitic screeds. Couple that with potential criminal records from aggressive trespassing and threatening other people, and yes, there is a price to pay for not protesting peaceably.