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Forums - Politics Discussion - Israel-Hamas war, Gaza genocide

SvennoJ on 29 April 2024

Jewish student lays out why he is protesting Israel’s war on Gaza

Elijah Kahlenberg, a Jewish-American student who took part in the pro-Palestinian protests at the University of Texas at Austin, said he believes Israel’s actions in Gaza “do constitute genocide”.

The 21-year-old told Al Jazeera: “In most Jewish education, when it comes to Palestinians, you’re not told about 1948. You’re not told about the Nakba. You’re typically told sometimes outright racist things about Arabs and Palestinians. I began a process of unpacking a lot of what I was told in Hebrew school, but also engaging with Palestinians and the conclusion I came to is that Palestinian culture is more similar to my culture than to any other culture in the world.”

He said that speaking out on behalf of Palestinians is not anti-Semitic.

“I’ve personally dealt with a lot of accusations that I’m either a self-hating Jew, and even worse, some have called me a Kapo, which is a Jew sellout of fellow Jews to the Nazis, all for the stances I’ve taken for my Palestinian brothers and sisters. And that’s personally very hurtful to me. I lost family in the Holocaust. But it doesn’t stop me. I understand what I’m doing is just. I am standing with my Palestinian brothers and sisters for a very noble cause. And I view them as my family.”



Students at Yale University set up new protest camp

Students protesting against Israel’s war on Gaza have pitched a new encampment on Yale University’s campus in the northeastern state of Connecticut. The move comes a week after Yale police broke up a protest camp at the university and arrested 44 students for trespassing, according to the Yale Daily News.

University authorities again urged students to disperse, the news website said, adding they risked arrest and suspension if they failed to do so.



Pro-Palestinian protests not a ‘threat’ to Jewish students: Australian Jewish Council

The Australian Jewish Council has rejected claims that pro-Palestinian student protests in the country are a “threat” to Jewish students and staff.

“Attempting to silence or censor these protests by deceitfully accusing them of antisemitism is a dangerous overreach that if acted upon, risks stifling free speech on campuses. Universities must be places where diverse perspectives can be voiced and debated openly,” the council said in a statement on Monday.

“We should be proud of all of the students, many of whom are Jewish, who are speaking out against this unfolding genocide,” Elizabeth Strakosch, executive officer of the Jewish Council of Australia, said.

“The right to peaceful protest is a fundamental democratic freedom that universities should uphold and defend. The student protests against the unfolding genocide in Gaza are legitimate expressions of political speech and human rights advocacy.”

Students from universities in Australia have joined their global peers in organising on-campus protests in solidarity with Palestine.



Students set up Gaza protest encampments at Sorbonne University

Students at Paris, France’s Sorbonne University are also staging demonstrations against Israel’s war on Gaza, according to posts on social media. The students chanted “Free Palestine!” at the university’s gates while some students set up tents in the courtyard.

Several French politicians, including Mathilde Panot who heads the left LFI group of lawmakers in the National Assembly, called supporters to join the Sorbonne protests on social media.

The protests follow last week’s student demonstrations at another Parisian institute, Sciences Po, and are the latest sign that demonstrations on US campuses are spilling over to Europe.

Last edited by SvennoJ - on 29 April 2024

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SvennoJ on 29 April 2024

'There's never been a movement like this!'



Canada still debating whether to send the police in or not




How Sky News Australia reports the protests, anti-semetic meltdown, spiraled out of control, mass hysteria.

"Imagine that black students were taunted to go back to Africa or gay students surrounded by homophobic protestors and hit with a stick at Yale but that's what's happening to Jews isn't it."

Unhinged pro-Palestine activists send elite universities into meltdown

"Sheridan agrees saying the protests are vile anti-semitic and reflect the breakdown of Civility in the United States"

"I think this is a very serious situation for America it's part of the breakdown of Civility and basic um uh willingness to abide by the law in America"
"what you've got now in campuses Across America is a situation of vile anti-semitic prgrams which are reminiscent of Europe in the 19th

century"



SvennoJ on 29 April 2024

'There's never been a movement like this!'



Canada still debating whether to send the police in or not




How Sky News Australia reports the protests, anti-semetic meltdown, spiraled out of control, mass hysteria.

"Imagine that black students were taunted to go back to Africa or gay students surrounded by homophobic protestors and hit with a stick at Yale but that's what's happening to Jews isn't it."

Unhinged pro-Palestine activists send elite universities into meltdown

"Sheridan agrees saying the protests are vile anti-semitic and reflect the breakdown of Civility in the United States"
"I think this is a very serious situation for America it's part of the breakdown of Civility and basic um uh willingness to abide by the law in America"
"what you've got now in campuses Across America is a situation of vile anti-semitic prgrams which are reminiscent of Europe in the 19th century"

The drivel goes on for another 10 minutes without ever mentioning the reason for the protests beyond pinning it on immigration and BLM protests?

"There's so many dynamics that are almost like a petri-dish at these universities over there where there's the impact of immigration and importing some of these allegiances that are spilling out there's sort of this codling culture that's happened at these universities there's the way protests I think were Amplified and supported during the summer riots with BLM I think that culture is carrying over and you just have weak leadership at the top of the university and all those things put together is leading to some pretty stunning and outrageous stuff that we're seeing"

How is this hate speech allowed to be aired?
Last edited by SvennoJ - on 29 April 2024

SvennoJ on 29 April 2024

Palestinians in Gaza struggle with heat, garbage, insect swarms

As garbage piles up and the heat rises in the besieged Gaza Strip, flies and mosquitoes proliferate in crowded Rafah city and life becomes even more grim for displaced people living in tents, according to an AFP report.

Temperatures have already topped 30 degrees Celsius, turning makeshift shelters made from plastic tarps and sheets into sweltering ovens. UNRWA said it has already received reports that at least two children have died due to rising temperatures.

The World Health Organization warned in January of a leap in infectious diseases such as hepatitis A, blamed on unsanitary conditions in camps. “Waste continues piling up and running water is scarce” in Gaza, warned UNRWA in a post on X last week. “As the weather gets warmer, the risk of disease spreading increases.”

Rafah hosts about 1.5 million displaced, according to the UN, more than half of the Gaza Strip’s population, which has been besieged and bombarded by Israel for nearly seven months.

On the streets, garbage accumulates as large rubbish containers overflow, after basic services broke down long ago amid Gaza’s worst ever war.

The war has also destroyed “waste collection vehicles, facilities and medical waste treatment centres”, leaving “municipalities scrambling to cope with the escalating crisis”, a UN report said late last month.



China remembers the mass graves, buried under the outrage over the student protests

‘Outrage to the moral conscience of humanity’

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian has said that China is “deeply shocked and strongly condemns the perpetrators of this atrocity”, referring to the discovery of mass graves at al-Shifa Hospital.

At a news briefing in Beijing, he said: “Vast swaths of Gaza are now left in rubble and over a million civilians are struggling in despair on the brink of death. The fact that this is even happening in the 21st century is an outrage to the moral conscience of humanity, and tramples on the most fundamental aspect of international justice.”

The biggest imperative is to put in place a ceasefire as soon as possible, he added. “This is the number one overriding priority in Gaza.”

40-day ceasefire offered to Hamas in Gaza: UK’s Cameron

Speaking in Riyadh, UK foreign secretary Cameron says there is a “generous” offer of a sustained 40-day ceasefire in Gaza, in exchange for the release of captives.

“The current proposal before Hamas includes the release of potentially thousands of Palestinian prisoners,” he says. “I hope Hamas accepts the proposal in front of them,” he adds, saying that the war won’t end until all the captives are released.

Cameron also says that the Hamas leadership and those responsible for the October 7 attack need to leave Gaza in order “to have a political horizon for a two-state solution”.

Hamas has repeatedly said that it wants a permanent end to the fighting, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians.

 

Hamas’s response to deal expected in coming ’24 hours or so’

The Israelis have a delegation ready to go to Cairo tomorrow, but that depends on the response from Hamas to Israel’s ceasefire proposal.

It’s understood that the Israelis are asking for fewer than 40 of the 130 or so captives being held by Hamas, and in return for that, they’ll release Palestinian prisoners, and they’ll move to a second phase of a truce, which will offer this period of “sustained calm”.

The wording is very important there because we know that Hamas has been insisting that throughout previous talks, they get a complete end to hostilities and the removal of Israeli forces from Gaza so that Palestinians can return to their homes, particularly in the north.

So the question is whether this offer of a period of “sustained calm” will be enough for Hamas, considering they’ve been asking for this permanent ceasefire. We expect to hear what Hamas have to say in the coming 24 hours or so.



SvennoJ on 29 April 2024

‘Serious questions for the mediators’, says Hamas spokesperson

Senior Hamas spokesperson Osama Hamdan has reiterated the group’s stance on a ceasefire, including the withdrawal of troops in Gaza and the return of Palestinians to their homes.

“It’s clear from the Israeli paper that they are still insisting on two major issues. They don’t want a complete ceasefire and they are not talking, in a serious way, about the withdrawal from Gaza. In fact, they are still talking about their presence … which means that they will keep continuing [occupying] Gaza,” Hamdan told Al Jazeera.

“We have serious questions for the mediators. If there [are] positive answers, I think we can move forward.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed that the Israeli proposal was an “extraordinarily generous” offer.

“Stopping the attacks against Palestinians is not generous. The attack itself is a crime, so when you stop a crime, you can’t claim that it’s a generous action from the Israeli side,” added Hamdan.

He has a good point... Extraordinarily generous to stop bombing people for a month...



Israeli officials concerned about possible ICC arrest warrants

Israeli officials appear increasingly concerned that the International Criminal Court (ICC) might issue arrest warrants against the country’s leaders. Their concerns come as international pressure mounts over the war on Gaza. There was no comment from the court on Monday, and it has given no indication warrants in the case are imminent.

But Israel’s Foreign Ministry said late on Sunday that it had informed Israeli missions of “rumours” that warrants might be issued against senior political and military officials.

Neither Israel nor the United States accept the ICC’s jurisdiction, but any warrants could put Israeli officials at risk of arrest in other countries.


These arrest warrants would be for war crimes committed in the assault on Gaza in 2014 and the ongoing situation in the West Bank.
https://www.icc-cpi.int/palestine
No doubt the current war is speeding things up. (Took them until 2021 to determine jurisdiction and open the investigation)




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SvennoJ on 29 April 2024

Protesters and Columbia University administration at standstill

At Columbia University, the standoff between the administration and the demonstrators continues with a few hundred students still in their tents on the main lawn of the campus.

This morning, the university president, Minouche Shafik, released a statement acknowledging that the negotiations between the administration and the student protesters have broken down.

She said very clearly in this announcement that the university will not divest from Israel, which, of course, is one of the biggest demands of the demonstrators here and at other campuses across the United States.

The president said the university did offer to review the student’s recommendations for a more socially responsible investing process and it also offered to donate money to education in Gaza and open up the process of education overseas to more people who can’t afford it.

But again, this key demand of divesting from Israel is something they are not budging on and something the students have said is a red line.

Columbia University urges pro-Palestine protesters to disperse after talks fail

Columbia University’s president says talks with pro-Palestinian protesters who began camping on the Ivy League campus two weeks ago have failed, and she has urged them to voluntarily disperse without saying what would happen if they did not.

Shafik, whose administration was criticised by a campus oversight panel on Friday for its response to the protests, said in a statement that organisers and academic leaders could not reach an agreement that would break a stalemate over the encampment, which the administration says violates university rules.

She said Columbia would not divest assets that support Israel’s military, a key demand of the protesters, but the school has offered to invest in health and education in Gaza and to improve the transparency of Columbia’s direct investment holdings, according to Shafik’s statement.

Protesters have promised to keep their encampment until their three demands are met: Divestment, transparency in Columbia’s finances and amnesty for students and faculty disciplined for their part in the protests.

Shafik has faced an outcry from many students, faculty and outside observers for summoning New York City police to dismantle the encampment, resulting in more than 100 arrests.



Columbia University warns students to leave encampment or risk suspension

As we’ve been reporting, talks between protesters and administrators at Columbia University have stalled after President Shafik said the institution would not divest from Israel, a key demand of the protesters.

According to a letter sent to the protest encampment on campus, Columbia has warned students they must vacate by 2pm (18:00 GMT) and commit to the university’s policies or face suspension.

“The current unauthorised encampment and disruption on Columbia University’s campus is creating an unwelcoming environment for members of our community,” the letter read. It added that an “alternative venue” would be offered to demonstrators after the exam period.

“We regret that we need to take these actions, but we must restore order to the campus so that all students can complete their work for the term, study for exams, and feel welcome in the community,” it added.



Please, we need to keep supporting genocide in peace.

Columbia University students in an assembly to determine next step

Columbia University’s president has issued a statement and she says that she is hoping to resolve this ongoing conflict peacefully. She says that she wants to guarantee free speech but at the same time guarantee the safety of Jewish students at the university.

While Columbia said it won’t divest from Israel, in the statement, she’s also saying they’re open to proposals on what to do with the university’s investments.

We’re hearing that the students who are inside are currently in an assembly. They have been handed out a document that is asking them to leave the university peacefully by 2pm. They say that they have to sign the paper. If they don’t, they won’t be allowed to finish the semester in good standing.

The students believe that this is a form of civil disobedience. There is a long tradition in US universities to carry out this type of protest that dates back to the Vietnam War in the 1960s. They believe that they’re in their right to carry out this type of protest.

Many have told us that they believe that the police could come back to try and remove them from the campus by force.



Apartheid to fossil fuels: Columbia’s history of divestment before Gaza

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/29/apartheid-to-fossil-fuels-columbias-history-of-divestment-before-gaza

As the roar of protests against Israel’s war on Gaza grows louder on campuses across the US, a key demand has taken centre stage: Divestment.

Students and teachers, who are a part of the protests, are insisting their universities stop all funding and investments tied to Israel. At the heart of the protests is New York’s Columbia University, an Ivy League institution steeped in the history of campus student action stretching back decades.

And while no two protests are the same, the university also has a long tradition of leading US educational institutions in ending controversial investments – often under pressure from its student, faculty and alumni communities.

.....

What does it mean for Columbia to divest from Israel? 

The underlying goal for any divestment is to redistribute the university’s endowment funds to focus on investments that are seen as more ethically sound while also using that money to encourage governments and other institutions to change their policies.

Columbia has an endowment fund of $13.6bn. Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of campus groups that is one of the organisers behind the current protests, has identified a series of investors that it wants the university to sever ties with. They include BlackRock, the asset management giant; Airbnb, which has offered rentals in the occupied West Bank; Caterpillar, whose bulldozers Israel has used; and Google, which has faced protests from staffers over Project Nimbus, which provides artificial intelligence services to Israel.

These investments constitute an almost negligible amount of Columbia’s endowment funds, but in February, the university made it clear that it had no intentions of divesting from firms tied to Israel.

 

Protesters defy Columbia University’s deadline

Pro-Palestinian student protesters at Columbia University defied a 2pm (18:00) deadline after they were faced with an ultimatum to either sign a form and leave the encampment or face suspension.

The notice sent on Monday by the university in New York City to protesters in the encampment said that if they left by the deadline and signed a form committing to abide by university policies through June 2025 or an earlier graduation, they could finish the semester in good standing. If not, the letter said, they will be suspended, pending further investigation.

Protesters met the deadline chanting, clapping and drumming from the encampment of more than 300 people. No officials appeared to enter the encampment, with at least 120 tents staying up as the deadline passed.

Colleges around the US had implored a wave of pro-Palestinian student rallies to clear out tent encampments. College classes are wrapping up for the semester, and campuses are preparing for graduation ceremonies, giving schools an extra incentive to clear encampments.



SvennoJ on 29 April 2024

Pro-Palestinian students protest in front of Sorbonne University in Paris

Protesters have continued to gather in front of the university after police earlier forced out demonstrators inside its grounds.


French police are deployed in Paris as students block the entrance of Sorbonne University in support of Palestinians in Gaza



French police clear pro-Palestine protesters at Sorbonne University

Police have moved in to clear out dozens of protesters who had camped out in a courtyard of Sorbonne University in Paris to protest against Israel’s war on Gaza, the Reuters news agency reports, citing a student at the scene.

The demonstration took place three days after protests at the French capital’s elite Sciences Po and came in the wake of rallies on campuses across the US against the war.

“We have every reason like in Yale, in Columbia, in Sciences Po … to condemn what we can see is happening,” the student, who only gave his name as Leonard, said at another rally outside the gates of the Sorbonne.

The university, one of the world’s oldest, closed its buildings for the day during the peaceful protests. Students chanted “Free Palestine” and urged the institution to condemn Israel.

Reporting from Paris, Al Jazeera’s Natacha Butler said the protests were continuing outside the university’s gates.


Rights groups say pro-Palestinian protests ‘repressed’ in Europe

Rights groups say authorities in Europe are clamping down on pro-Palestinian protests.

“We see hate speech laws and counterterrorism laws being instrumentalised, being weaponised to go after what is legitimate speech under international standards,” Amnesty International researcher Julia Hall said.

Hall added that there has been “an avalanche of cancellations and targeting of peaceful protesters, academics, anyone who is basically out there in solidarity with Palestinian human rights or is criticising the state of Israel”.

In at least 12 EU member states, authorities have taken “disproportionate measures, including the pre-emptive banning of protests based on apparent risk to ‘public order’ and ‘security'”, the Brussels-based European Civic Forum said in a report published this month.

French authorities have banned pro-Palestinian demonstrations, cancelled conferences and most recently summoned two far-left politicians for police questioning over alleged “support for terrorism” while Germany this month barred entry to former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis “to prevent any anti-Semitic and anti-Israel propaganda”.



SvennoJ on 29 April 2024

Meanwhile, the war goes on

At least three Palestinians killed in Nuseirat refugee camp

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting that an Israeli attack on a home in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp has killed at least three people and wounded many others.The attack hit a home belonging to the Abu Tuyoor family, according to the reports.



Rafah residents say can’t create safe zone in a war zone

Despite the ongoing talks and progress made in Cairo for a potential ceasefire, people are still very cautious because they still have to deal with this intense bombing campaign that has been going on for the past 24 hours.

There has been an intense surge in air attacks and artillery shelling of not only Rafah City, but the remaining eastern part of the Gaza Strip. We’re looking at at least three atrocities committed against displaced families in Rafah and other parts of the Gaza Strip.

At least 43 people have been killed, and 26 of those who have been killed in overnight attacks and throughout the day happen to be from Rafah City.

There are reports of people still stuck under the rubble. There is also the inability of civil defence crews and paramedics and volunteers to reach those who might have survived these attacks.

It is increasingly becoming difficult to live in Rafah. One thing that the residents keep repeating here is that you can’t create a safe zone in a war zone.

Quds Brigades claims rocket attacks on southern Israel

The armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad says it fired rockets from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli cities. The group said that it “bombed ‘Sderot’, ‘Niram’, and the settlements surrounding the Gaza Strip in response to the crimes of the Zionist enemy against our people”.

Local media reported the Israeli army as saying a rocket fired towards Sderot was intercepted.

Two Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza

The Israeli army has said that two reservists were killed in the central Gaza Strip yesterday. This brings the Israeli troop death toll to 263, the army said. The two soldiers were killed and another soldier was seriously wounded in the Netzarim Corridor area, the army said.

Hamas’s Al Qassam Brigades issued a statement yesterday saying it had set up an ambush for Israeli soldiers that led to the killing and injuring of several reservists.




Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum unpacks what its like to cover the war from Gaza

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum discusses his experience reporting on the war in Gaza since it began in October.

“To be a journalist in Gaza is to be both the person who reports on the attack and the eyewitness as well,” he explains.

“Palestinian journalists are heroes. Sometimes they have lost their family members and in the same hour they return back to stand in front of the camera only for one purpose: to keep the world informed.”







Israel strikes Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon

The Israeli military has said fighter jets pounded Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon’s Rachaya al-Foukhar and Khiam a short while ago. The targets, it said, included rocket-launching positions, a building, and other infrastructure. The military said it also shelled areas near Aita al-Shaab to “remove threats”, without elaborating.


SvennoJ on 29 April 2024

No doubt the US is delaying the rumored arrest warrants from the ICC

US says ICC has no jurisdiction on Israel’s war on Gaza

A US State Department spokesman said the ICC has no jurisdiction over Israel’s war on Gaza.

“Since this president has come into office, we have worked to reset our relationship with the ICC and we are in contact with the court on a range of issues, including in connection to the court’s important work on Darfur, on Ukraine, on Sudan as well,” Vedant Patel said. “But on this investigation, our position is clear. We continue to believe that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over the Palestinian situation.”

Israel is not a member of the ICC and does not recognise its jurisdiction, but the Palestinian territories were admitted with the status of a member state in 2015.

In October, ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan said the court had jurisdiction over any potential war crimes committed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip. “The ICC is an independent organisation and their efforts are being undertaken without any contact or interference by the US,” US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters on Monday.

The US – Israel’s closest ally – is also not a member of the court. A White House spokesperson said later on Monday that “the ICC has no jurisdiction in this situation, and we do not support its investigation”.



More US lies.

The ICC already determined in 2021 that they have jurisdiction to rule over war crimes committed by Israel against Palestinians

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2021/02/icc-ruling-jurisdiction-occupied-palestinian-territory-welcome-step-towards

GENEVA (9 February 2021) – A UN human rights expert said today the International Criminal Court's (ICC) ruling that it has jurisdiction over grave crimes committed in occupied Palestinian territory, including potential war crimes, is a major move towards ending impunity and ensuring justice.

"This is a significant step forward in the quest for justice and accountability involving the unaccountable 53-year-old occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza," said Michael Lynk, the Special Rapporteur for the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.

"The leading political organs of the United Nations have repeatedly failed to enforce their own significant body of resolutions on the Israeli occupation," the independent expert said. "This ruling opens the door for credible allegations of Rome Statute crimes to finally be investigated and potentially reach the trial stage at the ICC. This offers profound hope to those who believe that consequences, not condonation, must be the answer to the commission of grave crimes."

The allegations of grave crimes that could be investigated by the Prosecutor of the ICC include Israel's actions during the 2014 war against Gaza, the killing and wounding of thousands of largely unarmed demonstrators during the Great March of Return in 2018-9, and Israel's settlement activities in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. As well, the Prosecutor can also look into allegations of grave crimes involving Palestinian armed groups.

...

· A report into the 2008-09 Gaza conflict stated that: "…justice and respect for the rule of law are the indispensable basis for peace. The prolonged situation of impunity has created a justice crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory that warrants action."

· A 2013 report into the implications of the Israeli settlements called upon Israel: "…to ensure full accountability for all violations…and to put an end to the policy of impunity."

· A report into the 2014 Gaza conflict expressed concerned that: "… impunity prevails across the board for violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law allegedly committed by Israeli forces…Israel must break with its recent lamentable track record in holding wrongdoers accountable…"

· A 2019 report into the Gaza protests found that: "To date, the Government of Israel has consistently failed to meaningfully investigate and prosecute commanders and soldiers for crimes and violations…Scarce accountability measures arising out of Operations Cast Lead (2008-09) and Protective Edge (2014)…cast doubt over the State's willingness to scrutinise the actions of military and civilian leadership…."

The Special Rapporteur said none of these calls for justice and accountability have been implemented.


Of course they want to suppress the ICC as issuing arrest warrants against Netanyahu and his cronies will pull the rug out from under the "It started on Oct 7" narrative. It would be too big to suppress in the media (but no doubt they'll try their best)



SvennoJ on 29 April 2024

Parents and guardians of NYU students slam university president in open letter

Almost 600 “parents, guardians and loved ones” of students at NYU have criticised president Linda Mills’s response to the student-led pro-Palestine demonstrations, as universities across the US step up rallies protesting Israel’s assault on Gaza.

In an open letter addressed to Mills, parents and guardians said they are “concerned and disturbed” at the reaction of the university to the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment”.

“Our number one priority is the safety of our children and their freedom of expression,” the letter read. “The lies you are pushing infuriate and deeply alarm us,” the letter added, referring to an email reportedly sent by Mills. The email is “a betrayal of trust and a blatant attempt to deflect accountability for the university’s violent and horrific actions,” the parents said.

More than 100 protesters, including students and faculty members, were arrested by police at the encampment last week. “We have not been offered any proof of an incident of intimidation, unsafe behavior, or antisemitism that you touted to justify the brutalization of our students,” the parents said in their joint letter.

“It was Linda Mills and NYU, who authorised riot police to arrest our students, that created a dangerous and violent situation,” they added, describing the arrests as brutal and disproportionate.


Arrests of protesters ‘ongoing’ at University of Texas

Hundreds of Texas state troopers have arrested students protesting against Israel’s assault on Gaza at the University of Texas in Austin in the US.

Demonstrators have been told to leave by the university, but they have defied orders to do so. Al Jazeera’s Heidi Zhou-Castro, reporting from the scene, said arrests are “continuing and ongoing”. “Now, the sheriff’s department has showed up with a large bus that they are filling now with arrested protesters,” she said.

Within the encampment, protesters are sitting “with their arms linked, in defiance of the call from the university to disperse”, Zhou-Castro said, adding that people at the scene said there is an “overly heavy police response”.

According to Zhou-Castro said, there was “no sort of violence, no sort of anti-Semitic chanting, leading up to this police response”.


‘We will not be silenced’, says University of Texas student protester

Hadi, a student and one of the protesters at the University of Texas in Austin in the United States, says the school is trying to “censor us”.

“We are seeing the illusion of American freedom, the illusion of American freedom of speech, crumbling behind us,” Hadi told Al Jazeera from the scene of the university encampment, where police are arresting dozens of students.

“The system and this university have decided to showcase that they would rather subjugate, oppress and silence students than allow us to have a peaceful demonstration where we hope to educate each other,” he said. “We will not be silenced.”

Students are calling for an end to Israel’s assault on Gaza and for the university to divest and stop all funding and investments tied to Israel.





Seattle students join protests, pitch tents

Pro-Palestine protesters pitched a handful of tents on the University of Washington campus in Seattle, joining other universities across the US in denouncing Israel’s war on Gaza.

According to the Reuters news agency, approximately two dozens students pitched tents on the quad, next to “no camping” signs that appeared over the weekend.

A few pro-Israel protesters stopped by and filmed while tents were being erected, but no altercations occurred.

Last edited by SvennoJ - on 29 April 2024