Biden tries threading the needle on campus protests, war

• In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed — "with or without" a hostage deal — to forge ahead with a ground invasion of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians are sheltering.
• In the U.S., universities are trying to balance protesters' speech rights while scrambling to avoid high-profile disruptions to graduation ceremonies — including at Morehouse College, where Biden is scheduled to deliver the commencement address May 19.

What they're saying: Biden tried to thread that needle in his remarks at the White House on Thursday.

• "We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people or squash dissent. ... Peaceful protest is in the best tradition of how Americans respond to consequential issues. But neither are we a lawless country," he said.
• "Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduation — none of this is a peaceful protest."
• Biden also condemned antisemitism, Islamophobia and discrimination against Arab and Palestinian Americans, and shot down the notion of calling the National Guard to quell the protests.

The big picture: Everywhere Biden turns, Gaza-related backlash seems to follow.

• Protesters — many chanting "Genocide Joe" over his support for Israel — routinely heckle Biden during his public appearances. Hundreds gathered outside the White House Correspondents Association dinner in Washington last weekend.
• House Republicans, who have spent the past year plagued by extreme dysfunction, are still finding ways to exploit Democrats' divisions on Israel and antisemitism.
• As the GOP cuts ads tying Democrats to the campus chaos, Biden's allies in Congress are growing increasingly worried: "The longer [the protests] continue, and the worse that they get, the worse it's going to be for the election overall," one House Democrat told Axios.

Then there's the spiraling anxiety about the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which already is drawing comparisons to the party's 1968 Chicago convention that was plagued by chaotic protests of the Vietnam War.

Driving the news: The stakes will be high for Biden when he speaks at a Holocaust remembrance ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday.

• He plans to warn the country about the consequences of antisemitism and explain his efforts to combat it, according to people familiar with his plans.
• But the acute challenge for Biden is that his progressive critics are convinced that the president is too pro-Israel.
• Anytime he speaks against antisemitism, many only hear him addressing the suffering of Jewish people, and not necessarily Palestinians — even if Biden also mentions their plight.

Between the lines: Biden advisers aren't convinced that young voters' undeniable lack of enthusiasm for him stems from his handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict. It may have more to do with the economy.

• But they know supporting Israel is at the core of Biden's Middle East policy — and his overall political identity.
• Combating antisemitism — and the hatred Biden saw in images of the Charlottesville "Unite the Right" rally in 2017 — has animated his presidency. Long before Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel, Biden created a task force to counter violence and threats against Jewish communities.
• That task force met Wednesday to try to improve coordination with law enforcement on how to protect Jewish communities in the face of an increase in antisemitic acts.
• The White House has invited Jewish community leaders to a reception on May 20 to celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month, according to people familiar with the matter.

What we're watching: Biden's opponent, former President Trump, is spending most of his days in a Manhattan courtroom for his historic criminal trial. Yet images of campus clashes and police raids are equal attractions on cable news.

• Trump blasted the protesters as "raging lunatics and Hamas sympathizers" at a rally in Wisconsin on Wednesday. He praised NYPD officers for arresting protesters at Columbia University.
• "To every college president, I say remove the encampments immediately," Trump said. "Vanquish the radicals and take back our campuses for all of the normal students."

The bottom line: The White House still believes ending the war in Gaza is the best — perhaps only — antidote to Biden's foreign policy and domestic crises. But the political threat posed by the escalating campus protests no longer can be ignored.