Five things to know about pro-Palestine protests at US campuses

Students at top-tier universities across the United States have been staging large-scale demonstrations against Israel's bloody war on Gaza and Washington’s support for the Israeli military.

What started with a sit-in protest at Columbia University has morphed into a movement in recent days after Columbia University’s disastrous decision to call in the police to disperse the protesting students.

Now students at Yale, Harvard, NYU, MIT, UC Berkeley, and several other universities are staging demonstrations and taking out rallies, asking their universities to divest from companies that are complicit in Israel’s brutal war, which has left more than 34,000 Palestinians dead.

Here are five things to know about the protests.

1- A heavy handed crackdown

For decades Israel has killed Palestinians with impunity. But the six-month old war on Gaza has exposed Israeli brutality like never before. Images of charred bodies of toddlers, wailing mothers and starving people being cut down by Israeli gunfire while waiting for food relief has mobilised sentiment in favour of the Palestinians.

The cries to stop the war, which lawyers and rights activists say constitute as a "genocide", have also galvanised students in other major US universities.

But the administrations of the universities, which include Columbia and Yale, are now cracking down hard against the students.

They have called in police to detain the students and suspended dozens of them.

On Sunday, the Columbia administration announced it will increase the presence of security guards and make it harder for students from other universities to enter campus as it tries to disperse the protests, which have been taking place for weeks now.

Columbia President Minouche Shafik’s decision to call the New York police to remove students who had pitched tents in the campus has faced particular criticism.

At Yale, around 45 students were arrested and charged with "misdemeanour trespassing".

At Harvard University, a student organisation called Palestine Solidarity Committee was suspended for “violations of school policy” during demonstrations.

In an unusual move, the University of Southern California last week cancelled a commencement speech by its 2024 valedictorian, Asna Tabassum, who had openly expressed support for Palestinians.

The university administration justified its action by citing security concerns.

2- Faculty members join students

The decision to suspend the students appears to have backfired as hundreds of faculty members at Columbia staged a walkout, holding banners that said “unsuspended our students.”

Last week, the Barnard and Columbia chapters of the American Association of University Professors issued a statement, condemning the suspension of students and their arrest.

“We have lost confidence in our president and administration, and we pledge to reclaim our university.”

In a dramatic scene, some faculty members supporting the students, converged on the campus gates and could be seen advocating for journalists who were denied entry as the administration tried to restrict news coverage.

When the Columbia University defended its actions citing the unease that some Jewish students had faced, 23 Jewish faculty members from Barnard College and Columbia University wrote a letter to President Shafik, expressing their objection to “the weaponisation of antisemitism.”

“Labeling pro-Palestinian expression as anti-Jewish hate speech requires a dangerous and false conflation of Zionism with Jewishness, of political ideology with identity,” the letter said.

At NYU, some faculty members formed a human-chain around Muslim students who were praying during a protest.

3- Politicians take the Israeli side

American politicians have joined the debate, which marks a clear divide between the young students and the ruling elite.

President Joe Biden, who has faced criticism for not doing anything to stop Israel’s brutal war, issued a statement expressing alarm in “surge of anti-Semitism”.

Ignoring the concern of the protesting students who are seeking the protection of 2.3 million besieged Palestinians in Gaza, the White House was quick to condemn "physical intimidation targeting Jewish students and the Jewish community" on Columbia's campus. No credible evidence of any physical intimidation of Jewish students has been found.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams criticised the protests, characterising the calls for peace and accountability of the Israeli actions as "vile" and "disgusting".

Despite her crackdown on the protesting students, Columbia President Shafik is facing heavy criticism from all sides.

Several Democrats, including Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, criticised the punishments given to protesting students, with Omar notably concerned as her daughter Isra Hirsi was among the Columbia University students suspended.

4- Zionist lobbying goes on

While hundreds of pro-Palestinian protestors have faced action from the authorities, a handful of pro-Israeli protestors have reportedly gone around the Columbia campus, chanting "Victory to Israel".

This group also allegedly put up the flag of the Kfir Brigade, an Israeli army unit associated with Netzah Yehuda battalion, which is facing US sanctions for human rights violations.

In an even sinister move, Shirion Collective, a pro-Israel organisation, has offered compensation to people who are willing to wear keffiyehs and infiltrate student protests at the Columbia University.

A post shared on X, specifically sought individuals who possess “Arabic-sounding names” and “Middle Eastern appearances” for a “deeper infiltration.”

In recent months, instances of doxxing and harassment against pro-Palestine students have been reported on campuses across the US. One notable incident involved a truck displaying the names of Harvard students who had signed a letter condemning Israeli atrocities in Gaza.

5- No response

While an effort is on to paint protesting students as a bunch of angry young people who have no clear objectives, the reality is that protests at American campuses have laid out their terms in clear terms.

Students are seeking accountability from their university administrators who they see as complicit in Israeli war crimes as they haven’t pulled out investments in companies supporting the war.

Pension funds of several universities have put their money in Israeli companies, which according to the UN are complicit in the war.

Students also want their universities to cancel agreements with Israeli institutions that have been built in occupied Palestinian territories.