Ole Miss students sing “Star-Spangled Banner” at pro-Palestinian protest

A pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Mississippi on Thursday was drowned out by a group of conservative students singing the national anthem and shouting expletives.

The protest on the Ole Miss campus consisted of a group of around 60 students, according to Mississippi Today. As with similar protests on campuses across the country in recent weeks, the protesters denounced Israel’s ongoing attack in Gaza and were demanding that the university divest from Israel-linked companies.

About 200 counterprotesters, reportedly members of fraternities, soon arrived to the demonstration to confront the pro-Palestinian group. The counterprotesters were carrying flags supporting former President Donald Trump and shouted slogans that reportedly included “f*** Joe Biden” and “who’s your daddy.”

Republican Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves largely focused on the counterprotesters singing the “Star-Spangled Banner” at one point.

Other conservatives celebrated the group for being “normal” while claiming that the pro-Palestinian demonstration was composed of “Jew hating Biden voters.”

“The ‘protests’ at Ole Miss today,” Reeves wrote in a post to X, formerly Twitter, while sharing a video clip of the anthem being performed during the demonstration. “Watch with sound. Warms my heart. I love Mississippi!”

“A small group of Jew hating Biden voters tried to set up a HAMAS loving protest at the University of Mississippi,” posted self-proclaimed “ex-con deplorable” @LangmanVince. “The normal students drowned them out with the Star Spangled Banner.”

“Free Palestine activists just tried to pull off a protest on the Ole Miss campus,” the “End Wokeness” account posted. “It didn’t go according to plan [American flag emoji].”

“Patriotic students at the University of Mississippi sing moving rendition of the Star Spangled Banner in front of group of activists waving Palestinian flags,” posted British anti-transgender activist Oli London.

“Ole Miss Alpha Males started a ‘WE WANT TRUMP’ chant as a counter protest to the pro-Hamas thugs,” wrote Nick “Alpha Male” Adams.

“Patriots are breaking commies at Ole Miss they’re losing it throwing things,” the “MAGA Elvis” account wrote while sharing a first-person video of a counterprotester repeatedly shouting “f*** you” and performing an obscene gesture at a young pro-Palestinian protester who responds by throwing a drink.

Not all reactions on social media were praising the counterprotesters, however, with some accusing the group of having racist motivations.

“Ole Miss used to lynch Black people in those tall pretty trees scattered around that campus,” @sunnydaejones posted on X. “So this tracks.”

“Crowds of mostly white Ole Miss frat boys coming together to shout down and intimidate people fighting for justice for oppressed people is not a revelation or a historical anomaly,” wrote journalist Ashton Pittman, while sharing a photo of a group of young white men unfurling a Confederate flag on the campus after Ole Miss admitted its first Black student in 1962.

In a statement emailed to Newsweek, a University of Mississippi spokesperson said that Ole Miss was “committed to supporting the rights of our students, faculty and employees to express their views in a respectful manner and to assemble peacefully as enshrined in the First Amendment.”

“While today’s demonstration was passionate and several protesters and counter-protesters received warnings from law enforcement over their actions, there were no arrests, no injuries reported, and the demonstration ended peacefully,” the spokesperson added.

Although conservative counterprotesters dominated the demonstration in Mississippi on Thursday, the pro-Palestinian groups have far outnumbered any counterprotesters at most of the dozens of other protests on campuses across the country.

Over 2,000 pro-Palestinian protesters have been arrested during the demonstrations in recent weeks, according to the Associated Press (AP).

Police have intervened on many campuses following the establishment of encampments—something that the pro-Palestinian group did not attempt at Ole Miss on Thursday— and repeated reports of antisemitic incidents that the student protesters claim have been caused by outside groups.

Protesters accuse the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of committing “genocide” in Gaza. The surprise October 7 attack on Israel killed around 1,200 people, while more than 34,000 have been killed in Gaza as a result of Israel’s ongoing attack, according to figures from local health officials that have been cited by AP.