Anti-Israel protesters slammed as being 'gutless' for wearing masks to hide identities: 'Opposite of courage'

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NYU anti-Israel encampment broken up by NYPD

New York Police Department officers roused anti-Israel agitators Friday morning and cleared an encampment at New York University. (X/NYPD)

Anti-Israel protesters who are concealing their identities behind coronavirus masks and other face coverings while wreaking havoc on American college campuses are "gutless" and symbolize the "opposite of courage," critics tell Fox News Digital. 

The cloth coverings that played a prominent role in the lives of Americans during the pandemic have recently been thrust back into the national spotlight as demonstrators around the country are using them to hide their faces while calling for an end to the war in Gaza. But protests involving masked demonstrators at campuses such as Columbia University and UCLA have led to property damage, violence and hundreds of arrests. 

"It is the opposite of courage to hide behind a mask and to intimidate and menace, let alone physically harass or assault people," Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and National Director of the Anti-Defamation League, told Fox News Digital. "But when schools allow this, it can create not just vulnerability but real danger for the campus community." 

"If you show up for an event dressed like a bank robber, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for people to ask are you really there to exercise your constitutional right to freedom of assembly – you have something else in mind," he added. 

LIVE UPDATES: ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS AT US COLLEGE CAMPUSES 

Police and anti-Israel protesters stand off in front of the barricaded Portland State University library on Thursday, May 2 in Portland, Oregon. Some of the anti-Israel demonstrations happening around the U.S. – in which protesters have been seen wearing coronavirus masks and other face coverings, including the keffiyeh, a scarf that has come to symbolize Palestinian solidarity – have resulted in property destruction, violence and arrests.  (Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images)

One student who was protesting at New York University told Fox News this week that she was wearing a mask to protect against the spread of coronavirus.  

Other students around the country that spoke to The New York Times said they were masking up over concerns about having their identities exposed by pro-Israel groups accusing them of antisemitism or being the subject of viral videos and online harassment. 

"They are doing it just to hide their identity," Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told Fox News Digital. "I feel like also they are probably paid – some of them are not university students and they are paid instigators, and so they are trying to hide that further." 

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR SAYS ANTI-ISRAEL PROTESTS ARE REALLY ABOUT THIS 1 THING 

Protesters are seen using masks and other face coverings on the campus of ULCA on Thursday, May 2. (Eric Thayer/Getty Images)

In 2019, Burchett sponsored the Unmasking Antifa Act, a House bill that called for a "new criminal civil rights violation for wearing a disguise while interfering with another person's exercise of a protected right or privilege" and the strengthening of "certain existing offenses involving prohibited conduct while wearing a disguise." 

He called today’s anti-Israel protesters "gutless" and said President Biden has acted the same on the issue of the protests. 

Anti-Israel agitators construct an encampment on Columbia University’s campus in New York City on Monday, April 22. (Peter Gerber)

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"He’s been pretty gutless up to this point trying to play both sides and if you are a leader, you just do what is right," Burchett said. "If somebody is breaking the law, then they need to be prosecuted." 

Fox News' Alexis McAdams and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.