University students rising up against ties with Israel (title edited by MNHQ at request of OP)

[EasterIssland]

Many university students are raising up against the ties their universities have with Israel. Students are asking for this agreements to stop
I can see this is happening in USA which has been in the news quite a lot but I can also read news about Paris as well as UK.

I really doubt much will change but I’m glad people are against these agreements. We can’t change what Israel / Hamas do. But we should be able to change what our governments / universities do.

I missed this earlier - what definition of Zionism are you using there?

Yes- but perhaps the more immediate problem is killing and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza? Of the 4 Ds- this is deligitimizing I think.

Israel is occupying Palestine and is the one destroying Gaza . They’re protesting against their university doing business with companies that trade with Israel. Don’t think universities have many trades with Hamas and doubt they’ll have many with Iran (tho I might be wrong on this one)

Trying to damage Israel isn’t the answer.

@EasterIssland

"Israel is occupying Palestine"

What land areas of Palestine would you describe Israel as occupying?

Thanks Finally Mouin has articulated the situation beautifully.

@BelleHathor

"Most people no longer care about being denounced as anti-Semites, terrorists, or agents of a foreign government by the likes of the Defamation League, and are no longer intimidated by the Zionist Inquisition,"

Hmm so you see the above quote from the Mouin article as articulating the situation beautifully ". Seriously...

Hope this answers your question

“The Occupied Territories, which include the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, are subject to the jurisdiction of Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), with the division of responsibilities overlapping in much of the territory.”

https://www.state.gov/reports/2016-report-on-international-religious-freedom/israel-and-the-occupied-territories/israel-and-the-occupied-territories-the-occupied-territories/#:~:text=Executive%20Summary,-READ%20A%20SECTION&text=The%20Occupied%20Territories%2C%20which%20include,in%20much%20of%20the%20territory.

Seeing there are counter protests going on in USA at the moment.

few things I’ve seen coming out of these counter protesters

1. Man shouting kill the jews
2. People trying to start fights
3. Woman shouting “I hope they rape you”
4. There is a student with a banana allergy. There are signs with please don’t consume bananas whilst you’re in the barricade. A woman has brought bananas.

you might not be happy with the students but with this behaviour you won’t get the empathy for your cause

Yes, though you've selected 1 tweet out of a 20+ tweet thread and I agree with his whole assessment of the situation.

The Israeli Government has lost the PR war worldwide. Even Trump, super pro Israel and architect of the Abraham
accords has given interviews warning Israel of the PR loss and the associated risks.

If everything and everyone is labelled as an antisemite then it loses its effect.

The endless lectures on what is and isn't antisemitism are a bit tedious, I have to say. Do you speak to people of other minorities like this?

The smear of antisemitism being slung around so much hasn’t done anyone any favours.

It has highlighted how the labels handed out by the Israeli government and the IDF can’t be trusted.

The public is aware they can’t be trusted, because they have experienced it themselves! And it can be concluded that these labels seem to be strategically used to eradicate any criticism of Israel.

It is also harmful to Jewish people because it makes it harder to take claims of antisemitism at face value, and it makes it harder to identify real threats.

Did Israeli government forget that the rest of the world’s public aren’t mandated to be complicit in their crimes?? That people might not view the IDF in the same way it is viewed in Israel? Did they forget that the fear they hijack to justify their actions is unique to Israel and Jewish people? How did they expect their propaganda to be received????

100% accurate. It mostly based on this definition being adopted by many governments and companies:
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/04/04/human-rights-and-other-civil-society-groups-urge-united-nations-respect-human

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/nov/29/palestinian-rights-and-the-ihra-definition-of-antisemitism

The thing is when people are labelled unfairly or inaccurately as an attempt to shut them down, it doesn't make them more sympathetic or change their minds. They'll just find another group which can lead them to actual extreme views. For example, I was listening to a Twitter Space last night where a woman in Texas actually tried to blame the problems with immigrants on the Texas borders on a deliberate plan by Jewish people. Crazy huh?

She was very quickly shut down and challenged and told that her views are unacceptable and racist (ironically by a Palestinian in Jerusalem). The thing is though there are millions like her and there are actual far right people recruiting/grooming ordinary people who are upset at the carnage they see coming out of Gaza.

But it's a calculation that the Netanyahu government made and it will ultimately end up backfiring. Those anti-racists who have been labelled unfairly will keep quiet, whilst the actual supremacists are sitting rubbing their hands with glee as their work has been done for them.

Yesterday at UCLA:
https://x.com/MarieNeophytou/status/1784736203679432734

Negotiations have broken down, and Columbia has given the protestors until 2:00 PM today to clear out or be removed by the police and suspended by the university.

https://nypost.com/2024/04/29/us-news/columbia-president-minouche-shafik-admits-talks-with-anti-israel-protesters-have-broken-down/

This seems to be what prompted the action. A group of congressional Democrats have sent a letter to the university demanding the camp be broken up because it has been a source of violence, intimidation, and harassment of Jewish students.

https://nypost.com/2024/04/29/us-news/house-dems-demand-columbia-u-trustees-disband-encampment-or-resign/

Thanks. Just over 6 months until the American election in November, interesting move by the 20 House Democrats. I guess the calculation is that young people don't vote and these guys won't vote for Biden.

This kind of political meddling never ends well. The exact opposite of what they want will likely happen.
Anyone remember the anti capitalist camps in most Western cities a number of years ago? The more they were vilified the bigger they got

I agree with this @Hippyhippybake
But Israel is separate from the party that happens to rule it at any one time.
I can fully understand Jewish people’s need for a safe homeland.
But from what others have also said- this cannot come at the expense of innocent civilian deaths. The situation is completely tragic and hasn’t been helped by Hamas nor Netanyahu over the years.
The current actions of the IDF in Gaza are not the solution, as you can’t kill an ideology.
What is infuriating is that the US has not been able to help Israel itself by enforcing restraint and ensuring proportionality and access to humanitarian aid in a meaningful way (eg as a condition for aid and weapons), despite whatever private conversations may have been had. This then makes US citizens and others think how do we influence our leaders.

@Murica what is the meaning of that tweet, “from darkness to light” ?

I suppose echoing what Netanyahu said about children of darkness and children of light 🙄
Thats the first thought that came to my mind.
I won't share on here but I have seen quite aggressive counter protestors screaming 'terrorists'! And worse in the faces of pro Palestinian protestors. Neither side of the protests are really squeaky clean right now.

https://x.com/sabihakhan/status/1784893820343328862?s=61&t=nilGqPeurpC5xVqZAZdZog

this is really strange

That's... odd. Poor mice.

https://x.com/assalrad/status/1784983308939759753?s=61&t=nilGqPeurpC5xVqZAZdZog

and this one is incredibly unpleasant

Nothing says 'womens rights' quite like wishing rape on women with whose political views one disagrees.