The student protests might need a separate thread as it keeps escalating....
US rights group denounces police crackdown on student protests
Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) has called the violent dismantling of pro-Palestine encampments and arrests of student protesters by US police departments “a dangerous assault on our democracy”.
“The use of city police to dismantle peaceful protests on college campuses in the United States, coupled with proposed legislation to punish Americans for criticising Israel, is a dangerous assault on our democracy and a sign of the very creeping authoritarianism infecting so much of the world,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, DAWN’s executive director.
“The Biden administration has been a shameful accomplice in sacrificing American free speech and civil society at the altar of Israeli interests and demands,” she said in a statement.
Netanyahu discusses ‘anti-Semitism on US campuses’ with Yeshiva University chief
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is doubling down on his expressions of concern about “anti-Semitism” on university campuses across the US as students protest against the carnage in Gaza.
He had a meeting earlier on Wednesday at his office in Jerusalem with Ari Berman, a rabbi and the president of Yeshiva University.
The prime minister’s office said the two discussed ways of “combating anti-Semitism in US campuses” and Netanyahu welcomed an initiative to take US university presidents on an annual education programme in Poland.
The March of the Living, slated to be held later this month, is an event that focuses on educating students and university leaders on the Holocaust.
Police actions at US universities a ‘dystopian reality’
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, says she is “horrified by the violent actions of police at US universities smashing protests against an ongoing genocide perpetrated by a foreign country”.
In a post on X, she said, “Such a dystopian reality. May students and faculty members be safe. May the genocide end. May justice and reason prevail.”
Albanese also reposted a video of what appeared to be several police officers violently arresting a man, who she said was history professor Steve Tamari, at a pro-Palestinian protest at Washington University St Louis in Missouri.
How Biden’s White House has responded to student protests so far
The White House has condemned the student-led demonstrations against Israel on several occasions, often accusing them of fuelling anti-Semitism.
“While every American has the right to peaceful protest, calls for violence and physical intimidation targeting Jewish students and the Jewish community are blatantly anti-Semitic, unconscionable, and dangerous — they have absolutely no place on any college campus, or anywhere in the United States,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement to US media outlets commenting on the Columbia protests on April 21.
That same day, Biden issued an implied criticism of the protesters in a message marking Passover.
“Even in recent days, we’ve seen harassment and calls for violence against Jews,” the US president said. “This blatant anti-Semitism is reprehensible and dangerous – and it has absolutely no place on college campuses, or anywhere in our country.”
Bates again denounced student protesters at Columbia this week after they occupied a building on campus.
“President Biden has stood against repugnant, antisemitic smears and violent rhetoric his entire life. He condemns the use of the term ‘intifada,’ as he has the other tragic and dangerous hate speech displayed in recent days,” Bates said.
“Intifada” simply means uprising in Arabic. The White House’s comment drew ridicule and outrage from Arab-American advocates.
Democrats worried about protests as election looms: Report
Many Democrats in Congress know that the images of pro-Palestinian student protests on college campuses, and police crackdowns on them, play badly among both liberal and conservative Americans.
That’s particularly problematic for the Democrats and President Joe Biden, with November’s election less than 200 days away.
“The longer they continue, and the worse that they get, the worse it’s going to be for the election overall,” a House Democrat told Axios, which also reported that Republicans were already putting together political ads linking the Democrats to the protests.
Images of attacks on police will also be sure to further alienate pro-Palestinian Americans, many of whom have pledged not to vote for Biden or the Democrats.
Campus crackdowns may deepen Biden’s trouble with young voters
The US president is already in poor standing with young voters, and the crackdown on student-led protests across the country may further his woes with that demographic heading into November’s presidential election.
Biden’s approval rating stands at 28 percent among voters under 30 years old, according to a Pew Research Center survey released last week. A recent CNN poll also showed that a staggering 81 percent of voters younger than 35 disapprove of Biden’s handling of Israel’s war on Gaza.
The Democratic president’s unconditional support for Israel, condemnation of the student protests and silence towards the mass arrest and violence against demonstrators may fuel young people’s apathy – if not antipathy – towards him.
“The Democrats can’t really afford to give people more reasons to vote against Biden, and this actually becomes one,” Omar Wasow, assistant professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley, told Al Jazeera.
Young voters can be an influential group in US elections. In a close race – as the November rematch between Biden and former President Donald Trump is expected to be – low turnout among young people could spell trouble for Democratic candidates.
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