Dave McCormick, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, condemned the University of Pennsylvania’s failure to address anti-Israel protesters’ occupation of campus during a stop in Philadelphia this week.

Anti-Israel protesters have occupied the University of Pennsylvania’s College Green for nearly a fortnight, and Dave McCormick has had enough.

The newly minted Republican nominee for U.S. Senate paid a visit to what he called the “horrific” and “disruptive” encampment and condemned the university for allowing the “tent city” to disrupt final exams even while the protesters – many of whom are not Penn students – are violating university policies. 

McCormick called for police to break up the encampment and arrest the protesters, telling WHYY News that the protesters “can’t distinguish the difference between right and wrong and good and evil” and their actions are hurting their fellow students who are attempting to study for finals or walk on their own campus free of harassment or intimidation.

“They should use the campus police and shut down the tent city,” McCormick added. “For those that are students, they should be disciplined appropriately and kicked out of schools. For those that are on student visas, this violates their student visa.”

“Peaceful protest on university campuses has a long history and that’s a tradition, a key value in America,” continued the Republican Senate hopeful. “The fact [is] that the things that are being said are truly antisemitic. The things that are being said are intimidating to students and, in many cases, calls to incite violence, making it very difficult for others to learn.”

The Philadelphia Police Department has so far declined Penn’s requests to clear the occupation and has asked Penn to prove that the encampment “present imminent danger.”

In a video statement posted on X, McCormick and Penn senior Eyal Yakoby described some of the antisemitic and pro-terrorism statements and symbols that litter the protest area, including the display of a People’s Front for the Liberation of Palestine flag. The PFLP has been designated a terrorist organization by the US and other countries and has been responsible for dozens of hijackings, violent attacks, and suicide bombings since the 1970s.

McCormick highlighted some of the racist, violent, and antisemitic invective the protesters have hurled at Jewish students and others.

McCormick is not alone in calling for Philadelphia police to break up the encampment. Counter-protesters marched on Penn on Thursday and the Philadelphia chapter of the Israeli-American Council delivered petitions to Penn Interim President J. Larry Jameson demanding the university enforce its own policies. One Penn student is even fundraising to pay for a mariachi band to “play next to the encampment continuously until we run out of money to pay them for their efforts.”

Numerous videos are circulating online depicting the harassment and intimidation Penn students experience when walking through a campus they pay tens of thousands of dollars to attend. In one video, several masked protesters who did not appear to be students repeatedly threatened a Penn student for walking through their campus and flashed strobe lights in his eyes for several minutes in an attempt to intimidate him into leaving a public space.

The protesters are demanding that Penn cut ties with any company that has financial interests in Israel but are not making any efforts to persuade visitors to join their cause. According to CNN, protesters told their comrades “Don’t engage” when approached by visitors to the College Green and others told CNN they wouldn’t speak to the network because “You’re not for the cause.”

The protesters also are demanding Penn end collaboration efforts with Israeli institutions that they accuse of committing “scholasticide,” a concept created by Palestinian activists in 2009 that accused Israel of trying to obliterate education by targeting teachers. 

It’s important to note that UN-funded Palestinian teachers have been found to “regularly call for the murder of Jews, and create teaching materials that glorify terrorism, encourage martyrdom, demonize Israelis, and incite antisemitism.” Several UNRWA teachers also took part in the Oct. 7 massacres that left more than 1,200 Israelis dead.