Anti-Israel demonstrations at US universities are becoming increasingly fierce

• Lily Sophie Maigret

  Editor Bureau Washington

Protests have been going on at universities across America for months against the Biden administration’s policies toward Israel and Gaza. As the humanitarian situation in Gaza becomes increasingly dire, the demonstrations are becoming fiercer. Students have set up tent camps on campuses and their demonstrations continue day and night.

Last Wednesday, the protest started at Columbia University in New York, and has since spread like wildfire to other universities. The students and sometimes teachers who join the protest are demanding a ceasefire and are fiercely critical of President Biden, whom they have nicknamed ‘Genocide Joe’. They believe that he mainly sides with Israel and pays little attention to the Palestinians.

It is an accusation that has been haunting Biden, who will run for his second term this fall, for some time. He has tried to take a more fierce stance towards Israel in recent months, but is doing so carefully so as not to lose his pro-Israel supporters.

Biden must balance not to alienate voters from both camps, and again took a moderate position in response to the campus protests. He condemned the anti-Semitic statements of some activists, “but also the people who have no understanding for the Palestinians.”

Today, a large foreign aid package was adopted in the Senate by a large majority. Of that, $26 billion is intended for Israel. $9 billion has been set aside for humanitarian aid to Gaza. A package that many demonstrators believe is inadequate.

American students protest against war in Gaza

Not only President Biden is being criticized by the demonstrators, but also the universities themselves. Students are calling on educational institutions to cut ties with companies with connections to Israel, including arms suppliers.

Finding the balance between these two camps is difficult for universities. They say they find it difficult to respect freedom of expression, but also to guarantee the safety of students.

Many demonstrations were peaceful, but some also chanted anti-Semitic slogans. Many Jewish students say they feel unsafe. Some leading university employees also find the tent camps disturbing and say that the protest creates an unsafe atmosphere.

That’s why universities like Yale, NYU and Columbia tightened the reins, the police were deployed, students were suspended and some classes can only be followed online until the end of the semester.

But the intervention by the police only fuels the fire among the demonstrating students, says Dutch Indy Scholtens, who studies at Columbia University. “Since the arrests, it has only gotten bigger. Within an hour after the students were arrested, you saw that they walked to the other field. A camp has now been built there that was larger than the first camp. You can see that the resistance growing.”