Princeton University faculty members are now joining the pro Palestinian movement on campus taking part in a hunger strike that students began one week ago a statement from more than a dozen faculty who are participating claimed their actions are quote in response to the University's unwillingness to engage with the students demands in good faith they're urging the administration to consider one of the students top demands divestment from Israel and to Grant amnesty to the more than a dozen students who been arrested for taking part in an encampment and occupying a building on school grounds but top Princeton University leaders did meet with students and faculty on Monday to hear about their demands on cutting academic and financial ties with Israel and said they'll continue meeting with protesters the administration is also urging students to follow the formal process for divestment which requires broader Community input that wasn't enough though to stop today's solidarity fast our daylong solidarity fast is meant to emphasize the efforts of our students who are undertaking this strike putting their bodies on the line to show their solidarity with the Palestinian people of Gaza and the West Bank who are being subjected to a forced famine and a genocidal assault by the state of Israel well the response from higher ad officials at demonstrations at both Princeton and ruter universities has been met with praise and criticism in some cases for allowing too much protest on campus and in others for not tolerating enough among those voices are GOP state senator and gubinatorial candidate John bramnick and longtime social justice activist and Democratic US Senate candidate Larry ham welcome to you both good to have you both in studio Mr ham I want to start with you because you of course as we know are graduate of Princeton you participated in demonstrations in 1978 again apartheid in South Africa what is troubling you about the demonstrations today and the response to them well what troubles me is that I see less tolerance for freedom of speech less tolerance for freedom of assembly and freedom to protest than I did 46 years ago in what way well in the case of Princeton University they called outside police to arrest graduate and undergraduate students that were participating in peaceful protests when I was at Princeton from 1974 to 1978 we had demonstrations all the time in fact in my senior year we had 66 consecutive days of protest and a takeover of Nassau Hall we never saw the police and the demonstrations were peaceful no one was arrested and there was a somewhat positive outcome because Princeton did partially divest from companies doing business with racist apar South Africa Senator bramnick uh you're actually going to be having a meeting with Jonathan Holloway President of ruter University about the concerns you had over the university agreeing to meet several of the demands of protesters there uh how do you feel the response should have been handled and did the University in your view allow the demonstrations to go too far well I'm a product of the 60s so I'm very familiar with protest in the 60s this very different so ruter never had any demands of their own with respect to these protesters why didn't ruter say to the protesters listen first state that Israel has a right to exist and say that Hamas is a terrorist organization because there's plenty of Jewish kids on campus who are concerned about the direction of these protests are these protests supporting ham or they simply talking about the policy of the of Israel and the policy of the United States seems to me that there's an inference or a conclusion that you could make here that this may be simply pramas or Pro Palestinian and not necessarily simply anti-American policy that's so I would have asked the president to say State those two facts and then we'll have a discussion well okay so let me counter you with then does it not take uh sometimes Extreme Measures or extreme protests to achieve some of the social change when you think back to the 60s when you think back to civil rights Reproductive Rights all of that in order to get to those places which is what the demonstrators would say well I believe in Law and Order and I think you can have a protest that is peaceful but also it doesn't change my mind as to what the university should demand of the protesters that has nothing to do with being extreme it has to do with does ruter University support Israel's right to exist does ruter University believe that Hamas is a terrorist organization as stated by the United States dep state department when I hear that then we have a then we have a discussion with the protesters so Larry ham is the line blurred there I mean can two thing things be true at once that the university can uh support the rights for Israel to exist while also denouncing the government's policies why are the students protesting the students are protesting because they see genocide occurring before their very eyes in seven months more than 35,000 people have been killed more than 70,000 have been wounded 15,000 children have been killed more children have been killed in the last 7 months than in any other conflict in recent times a million people have been displaced starvation is being used as a weapon they see genocide that's why they're protesting what the students want is an immediate ceasefire an immediate and permanent ceasefire that's what they're protesting for and they're protesting at their University campuses for the same reason we protested against apartheid it is a way to bring pressure upon our government to in fact change course because this is going to be a very sad chapter in the history of American politics South Africa has taken Israel to the international court of justice and the court said that there is a plausible case here for genocide and when this is all said and done the United States by international law can be held complicit for in fact funding this genocidal War we're already in violation of the Ley law which says that we should not give military aid to countries that are violating civil that are violating human rights I think the students represent the best in us I commend president Holloway I think he's handled the situ situation at Ruckers much better than Princeton there were no police called in the University agreed to some of the demands didn't agree to others that left the door open for further negotiations and the students ended their encampment at Princeton University the police were called in students were dragged out prinston administration had intervened in a similar way as Ruckers that maybe there could have been a different outcome but absolutely as Mr brni said as Senator bramnick has said um the very grounds on which they're demanding to uh agreeing to those demands is also in in violation and I just want to give you an opportunity to respond right so the protesters if they if the president University had the protesters and students who support Israel at the table and the protesters condemned the original terrorist acts of October where they killed people raped women killed children if they had said that and said but we believe this is an overreaction by Israel you would have a legitimate debate but I didn't hear ruter saying to these protesters condemn the original terrorism we were heinous acts that's that's what makes is that for the protesters to do though if what they're after if what they're after is ceasefire if what they're after is an end end to that war is that what I believe a university should show balance and when they didn't take any of these other issues into effect president Holloway could have said Hey listen you know we had some terrorism that started this war you admit his terrorism yes you admit Israel has a right to ex yes once they say that now you have a legitimate debate but all a sudden you start a protest and their demands are met what about the demands of those people the Jew students and the people support Israel I didn't hear anything about those demands what do you think has been achieved uh by these demonstrations and do you think that there is an opportunity for Princeton students demonstrators to uh get some of what they're hoping to what has been achieved by the students is phenomenal they have drawn the world's attention to genocide that is being done before our very eyes this is an extremely important thing because you can't solve a problem unless people's attention are drawn to it and I hope that what comes out of this particularly in the instance of Prince University president ice grouper has not engaged in any serious discussion with the students to discuss anything he's dismissed them them as president Bowen did 46 years ago see we can look back now at Vietnam all the things that people are saying about these students was said about Vietnam was said about South Africa was set about Iraq and was set about Afghanistan and history has shown us clearly that the people who protested against those events were right and history will show that the students protest against genocide in Gaza is Right Senator brck very quickly your final thoughts and I know you have legislation that you plan to craft around some of these issues correct but what I don't understand is Hamas the government run by Hamas is hiding among amongst the civilians they're not coming out of the underground tunnels to fight and then all of a sudden Israel is deemed to be the aggressor come out and fight don't hide behind this civilians and then maybe it's a different situation on we don't want civilians to get killed but if that's that's where they're hiding and you're trying to look for these terrorists that's that's the kind of problem you're going to have well then that brings us to a whole other uh conversation about proportionality which we don't have time to get into today but I thank you both for coming on And discussing both of your viewpoints really appreciate it Larry ham Senator bramnick good to see you both thank you