Senator Bernie Sanders, various members of Congress, several labor unions, hundreds of university staff in the United Kingdom, and Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

[32] University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) introduced new regulations on campus protests that restrict "public expression activities" to areas around Bruinwalk and outside Murphy Hall.

The new restrictions also banned tents and camping equipment, food distribution, amplified sound, and chalk, and require people on campus to identify themselves when asked to do so by a university official.

[35] At Cornell, a graduate student with U.K. citizenship was suspended without due process and threatened with deportation for participating in a demonstration outside Statler Hotel, where a job fair that included recruiters from weapons manufacturing companies was being held.

In September, UCLA police sought approval to double their stockpile of pepper balls and sponge rounds and obtain eight new projectile launchers and three drones.

[61] A number of influential business leaders, including Daniel Lubetzky, Daniel Loeb, Len Blavatnik, Joseph Sitt, Howard Schultz, Michael Dell, Bill Ackman, Joshua Kushner, Ted Deutch and Yakir Gabay coordinated an effort in a WhatsApp group chat to urge Mayor Adams to crack down on the encampment at Columbia.

[65] Deputy Commissioner Neil Paterson wrote to the vice chancellors of the University of Melbourne, Monash, RMIT, Deakin and La Trobe, asking them to "carefully consider the risks" of allowing the encampments to continue.

[74] Other Coalition members have been similarly critical, with education spokesperson Sarah Henderson and senior frontbencher Michael Sukkar saying the protests should be forcibly broken up.

According to The Guardian, "Vice-chancellors insist they have no desire to quell challenge or stop difficult discussions on their campuses, arguing that this is part of the core purpose of a university".

[94] The New York Times reported that authorities took a more "permissive approach" to protests on campuses, with an emphasis on facilitating free speech, and that British polling indicates that a majority supports a ceasefire.

[110] On July 10, the universities of Birmingham and Nottingham won separate legal cases resulting in summary possession orders against the encampments established on their campuses.

[123] The Council on American-Islamic Relations executive director Afaf Nasher criticized the use of police force to break up the protests, saying it undermined academic freedom.

[124][125] The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, described some of the responses from law enforcement as "disproportionate in their impacts"[126] and was "troubled" by how they were being dealt with.

[131] In contrast, Jonathan Greenblatt of the ADL said that protesters concealing their identities were dressed like "bank robbers" and had the effect of "intimidating their opponents, of menacing the other side.

[135] Signatories include:[136][137] JewBelong, a political advocacy group known for celebrating Zionism, posted billboards near San Diego State University that read, "Remember when college was for losing your virginity, not your mind?"

[141] Speaking at Columbia on April 24, House Speaker Mike Johnson said, "Congress will not be silent as Jewish students are expected to run for their lives and stay home from their classes hiding in fear.

[143] Multiple conservative politicians and commentators, including Mike Johnson, Ted Cruz, Ira Stoll, Isabel Vincent, and Kari Lake spread the antisemitic conspiracy theory that George Soros funded the protest movement.

Texas Democrats said that Abbott's Department of Public Safety had "more courage to arrest peaceful student protesters than when an active shooter entered an elementary school in Uvalde.

[163] The "Antisemitism Awareness Act", spearheaded by the Republicans but also backed by many Democrats, passed the United States House of Representatives in a 320–91 vote on May 1, 2024, and proceeded to the Senate.

[164][165] The bill is intended to address the recent perceived rise in antisemitism on campuses[166] and uses the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's approved working definition of antisemitism to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits "exclusion from participation in, denial of benefits of, and discrimination under federally assisted programs on ground of race, color, or national origin.

"[167] Democratic Representative Sara Jacobs, who is Jewish, said she opposed the bill because "it fails to effectively address the very real rise of antisemitism, all while defunding colleges and universities across the country and punishing many, if not all, of the nonviolent protesters speaking out against the Israeli military's conduct.

"[168] The proposed legislation would broaden the legal definition of antisemitism to include anti-Zionism, criticism of the policies of the state of Israel, and concerns about Palestinian human rights, by categorizing all of that as hate speech, and it has been criticized for conflating "Judaism with Zionism in assuming that all Jews are Zionists" and automatic citizens of Israel rather than the U.S., thereby severely undermining genuine safety for Jewish citizens.

Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the centrist pro-Israel group J Street, said that his organization opposes the bill because it is an "unserious" effort led by Republicans "to continually force votes that divide the Democratic caucus on an issue that shouldn't be turned into a political football."

[169][170][171][172] Three Republican members of the U.S. House introduced a bill that would require anyone convicted of unlawful activity on a college campus to perform community service in Gaza for six months.

[178] In October 2024, a federal judge found that Texas Governor Greg Abbott's executive order on preventing antisemitism on campuses likely violated free speech protections.

Senator Bernie Sanders responded vehemently, accusing Netanyahu of distracting the American people from the Gaza war[181] and expressing support for the protests.

[186][187] After being invited to visit the Columbia protest, Palestinian photojournalist Motaz Azaiza said his experience was great, that he appreciated students wanting to know more and educate themselves, and that it was an honor to raise awareness about the Gaza Strip.

[194][195] In Iran, former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif criticized Saudi Arabia's and Jordan's reported consideration of normalizing relations with Israel, saying, "American student protesters being brutalised by US security forces have a much greater claim to protecting Palestinians than the Custodians of Holy Mosques".

[197] After the three-day occupation at Sciences Po in Paris, Prime Minister of France Gabriel Attal said he would "not tolerate the actions of a dangerously acting minority", calling the protests "an ideology coming from North America".

[199] After arrests at the Athens Law School, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that "authorities would not allow universities to become sites for protest over Israel's war on Gaza as has been seen in countries around the world".