“Anti-Semitic mobs have taken over major US universities. They are calling for the annihilation of Israel, attacking Jewish students, attacking Jewish professors. This is reminiscent of what happened in German universities in the 1930s. It is unconscious. It has to stop.
It must be condemned unequivocally. But this did not happen.” With these words, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke out against the wave of protests and demonstrations at universities in the United States by pro-Palestinian organisations.
As the humanitarian corridor has reopened in Gaza with aid entering for the first time from Beit Hanoun (Israel’s northern border with Gaza) and as an Egyptian delegation is in Israel restarting talks on a truce, the protests are spreading to French universities.
I love that NYPD drove Columbia’s Pally-Commies off to jail in school buses. pic.twitter.com/NYmcrxRPXB
— Marina Medvin 🇺🇸 (@MarinaMedvin) May 1, 2024
In the US, many of the ‘besieged’ and occupied universities have called for police assistance – a very rare occurrence since most have private – armed – guards or their own police stations, showing how far the situation is starting to get out of hand.
Typically, the NYPD arrested 109 protesters at Columbia (where drones and military tactics were used to deal with the occupiers and evacuate the institution) and 173 other protesters at City College, in midtown Manhattan, on April 30. At the University of Wisconsin, Madison – which has its own campus police department – the university president also made the decision to call in the Madison police.
Yesterday I protested the protesters at the University of Wisconsin’s Palestine encampment.
College students don’t seem to understand that Hamas does not care about Palestinians.
Hamas steals humanitarian aid intended for Palestinian schools, infrastructure, and food to build… pic.twitter.com/j1KahJqxiq
— David Skadron 🔥 (@DavidSkadron) April 30, 2024
At the University of Texas at Austin on Wednesday, police in riot gear were deployed to deal with students who walked out chanting “down with the occupation.” More than 20 protesters were arrested, with state Governor Greg Abbott declaring that “these protesters belong in jail.” “Students who engage in hateful and anti-Semitic protests at any public college or university in Texas should be expelled,” the governor said.
Gaza University following the destruction left by the Israeli forces 👇
Sorry for the typo, this is the Hamilton Hall at @Columbia
— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) May 1, 2024
Protests have also erupted at Yale, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), UC Berkeley, the University of Michigan and Brown. At Harvard, students began setting up tents on campus. At a protest at New York University, more than 130 people were arrested on Monday, while another nine people were reportedly arrested at the University of Minnesota.
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