Pro-Palestinian protests take over US campuses / The Day

The ongoing student protests on university campuses in the United States, expressing support for the Palestinians and criticizing Israel, have already spread across the country. They became active after police arrested more than 100 protesters at Columbia University in New York last week. This Wednesday, protesters clashed with the police in at least two universities, another university closed its campus until the end of the week, reports Associated Press.

The protesting students are demanding that universities cut ties with companies involved in Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, as well as with Israel itself. They are also calling on the US government to end military aid to Israel and to pressure Israel to end airstrikes in the Gaza Strip that are killing civilians. Reuters. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned pro-Palestinian demonstrations on US campuses, calling them anti-Semitic and comparing them to activities that once led to the Holocaust. Palestinian Islamist organizations, on the other hand in Hamas Politburo member Izat al-Rishk in a statement welcomed the activities of the American students and called their detention a “violation of the personal rights and freedom of speech of tomorrow’s leaders”.

Clashes on campus

Pro-Palestinian protesting students last week set up a tent campus on the campus of one of the Ivy League universities, Columbia University in New York.