Patriotic Rutgers, UNC students push back against anti-America, anti-Israel agitators

After a show of patriotism on the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill campus earlier this week when students prevented an American flag from hitting the ground and sang the National Anthem, students at Rutgers University followed suit.

Rutgers students on Thursday waved American flags and chanted "USA!" amid anti-Israel protests on Voorhees Mall at the New Brunswick, New Jersey, university. 

"Toward the latter half of their encampment yesterday, a handful of what I consider patriotic students went on campus and they obviously were chanting ‘USA!' They sang the National Anthem," Rutgers student Jeremy Li, class of 2025, told Fox News Digital on Friday. "They were probably standing up for American values, despite all the conflicting chaos that's been happening on campus recently."

Li added that he thought the counter-protesters were "great to see."

"We're seeing a movement that started at UNC that I think hopefully will move across the country," he told Fox News Digital.

Li noted that because of the protests earlier this week, final exams were canceled on Thursday.

A Jewish Rutgers student named Abbey told Fox News Digital that "it's not right" for the school's large Jewish student community "to feel unsafe while trying to take their finals."

"I had a lot of friends here yesterday who were chanting ‘USA’ and ‘all for Israel,' and I think that's really beautiful because that's what this country is all about," Abbey said.