(NewsNation) — Former Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard says pro-Palestinian college protesters have become “puppets” of a “radical Islamist organization,” contradicting the United States’ “ideology of freedom.” 

“These protests aren’t actually calling for peace,” Gabbard said during a Monday appearance on NewsNation’s “CUOMO. “I’m concerned about it because leaders in the West are not combating it. … Unfortunately, President Biden seems to be afraid to be called an Islamophobe.”

The Biden administration has committed to strongly backing Israel in its war against Hamas, signing $26 billion in military and humanitarian aid for the war last week, but officials have repeatedly warned against Israel moving into Rafah, where more than a million displaced Palestinians are sheltering from the war.

Hamas announced Monday that it has agreed to a cease-fire deal brokered by Egypt and Qatar.

The announcement comes as Israel ordered Palestinians to evacuate parts of Rafah in preparation for a military action, as experts have sounded the alarm over a deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

Campus protests nationwide

Around the country, there have been over 2,400 arrests on 46 campuses since April 17, with Columbia University seeing one of the largest pro-Palestine movements.

The school shifted to a hybrid online and in-person learning setting for the last few weeks of school following the protests.

Emory University also announced it would be moving its commencement ceremony off campus due to concerns about safety and security.

With graduation season looming, many college campuses across the country are looking for ways to adjust their ceremonies to include extra security in case protesters disrupt the events.

Colleges that have made deals

Amid the calls for divestment and a cease-fire, a small number of universities have struck deals with pro-Palestine protesters.

The agreements at schools including Brown, Northwestern and Rutgers stand out amid the chaotic scenes on college campuses.

Deals included commitments by universities to review their investments in Israel or hear calls to stop doing business with the longtime U.S. ally. Many protester demands have zeroed in on links to the Israeli military as the war grinds on in Gaza.

The agreements to even discuss divestment mark a major shift on an issue that has been controversial for years, with opponents of a long-running campaign to boycott Israel saying it veers into antisemitism. But while the colleges have made concessions around amnesty for protesters and funding for Middle Eastern studies, they have made no promises about changing their investments.

Protesters at the University of Vermont notched a victory when the administration announced Friday that their commencement speaker, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, would no longer be giving an address to graduates later this month.

The protesters, who erected an encampment Sunday, had demanded Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield’s speech be removed from the upcoming ceremony because of her role in the U.S. vetoes of multiple U.N. cease-fire resolutions.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

NewsNation’s Laura Ingle and Urja Sinha contributed to this report.