WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden defended the right to protest peacefully but demanded that “order must prevail,” as demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war have wreaked havoc on U.S. college campuses.

“There’s the right to protest but not the right to cause chaos,” Biden said at the White House Thursday, his first extended comments on the pro-Palestinian unrest at schools across the country. “Vandalism, trespassing, breaking windows, shutting down campuses, forcing the cancellation of classes and graduations — none of this is a peaceful protest,” he added.

The demonstrations have posed a threat to Biden’s reelection bid, and the president faced mounting pressure to personally address them before his unscheduled remarks on Thursday. The president said the protests have not caused him to rethink his approach to the war.

The clashes have highlighted the growing discontent among progressives, young people and Muslim and Arab Americans over the war — and the deep rift within Biden’s own Democratic party over his handling of the issue. The war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has increasingly become a drag on Biden’s political standing, opening him to attacks from both sides and with polls showing voters are losing confidence in his approach.

Pro-Palestinian encampments spread to at least 100 colleges in 30 states and Washington, DC, since protesters first erected tents on Columbia’s quad on April 17.

Biden on Thursday sought to strike a balance between what he said were “two fundamental American principles,” the right to free speech and “the rule of law.”

“Both must be upheld. We are not an authoritarian nation where we silence people or squash dissent,” he said. “But neither are we a lawless country. We’re a civil society and order must prevail.”

Asked if the National Guard should intervene as some Republicans have suggested, Biden said “no.” He also warned against antisemitic intimidation against Jewish students or threats against Muslims.

“There should be no place on any campus, no place in America for antisemitism or threats of violence against Jewish students,” Biden said. “There is no place for hate speech or violence of any kind, whether it’s antisemitism, Islamophobia, or discrimination against Arab Americans or Palestinian Americans.”

Police Crackdown

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