How student activists are changing the discourse on Gaza
By: BB, Year 11
On the nights of late April, NYPD, armed with guns, riot shields, and tear gas canisters, stormed the halls of Columbia University’s ‘Hamilton Hall’ paired with now-infamous photos of snipers deployed on the rooftops of campus buildings aimed at targets in and around the Hall. The threat? Hundreds of university students laying encampments calling for their university to divest from Israel in opposition to the siege and bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
This was one of many protests and encampments on university grounds across the United States in opposition to Israel’s campaign in the Gaza Strip inspired by boycott divestment sanctions (BDS) movement pressuring major businesses such as Starbucks, McDonald’s, and nestle, to end their roles in supporting the state of Israel.
Many pro Palestine activists view the BDS movement as a successful means of financially pressuring Israel into accepting a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza strip and an end to Israeli involvement in the occupied Palestinian Territories such as the settlement of the West Bank territories, which has grown significantly since the instatement of Israel’s Knesset government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, or the controversial construction of walls surrounding major West Bank cities, such as Hebron and Bethlehem, dubbed ‘the wall of shame’ or ‘the apartheid wall’ by many human rights organizations. Perhaps most importantly, an end to the involvement of campuses and funds paid by students, including those against in supporting Israel.
Even before October 7th, many universities in the United States and other western countries were subjected to criticism for their policies in support for Israel and companies or individuals associated with the state of Israel. Harvard university, one of the most well known and prestigious institutions, has faced similar protests and encampments for their pro Israel policies, among them their employment and support of Alan Dershowitz, a pro-Israel Jewish criminal law professor, criticized for his controversial views such as calling for the abolition of statutory rape laws, and his support for infamous figures such as OJ Simpson and Jeffrey Epstein.
The top concerns amongst faculty and student minorities opposing encampments primarily include fears of surges in antisemitism on university campuses and the risk of hateful or violent harassment against Jewish students and staff members with around 44% of Jewish university students claiming they feel in some way uncomfortable publicly identifying as Jewish on US campuses as a direct result of pro Palestine protests and encampments. This has resulted in mass divide amongst Jewish students, such as those sitting-in and leading encampments themselves.
One of the largest pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the United States involved over a thousand Jewish New Yorkers from the organization ‘Jewish voices for Peace’ (JVP for short) consisting of students, rabbis, and elected officials participating in a sit-in at the Grand Central Station; shutting down train lines, and exposing train-goers to banners and projections of slogans such as “Never again for anyone”, and “ceasefire now!” in order to differentiate the actions of Israel from what some Jewish communities view as contradictory to the teachings of Judaism.
By the end of the sit-in, over 500 reported cases of ‘civil disobedience’ occurred, 350 arrests were made, and the event became what the state of New York considers to be the largest case of ‘civil disobedience’ since protests against the US invasion of Iraq over 20 years prior. Following the police crackdown, JVP stated “We are watching a genocide unfold in real time. In just three weeks, the Israeli military has killed over 8,000 Palestinians in Gaza, among them over 3,000 children. That’s more than the annual number of children killed in conflicts across the globe since 2019.”
As responses to gunfire and violent escalation occur across campuses in the United States, student protesters have continued to stand their grounds with flags and Kufiyas in support for a lasting ceasefire and further political freedoms for Palestinians. Students have taken turns guarding and physically barricading each other’s tents from increasing violent attacks from Zionist rioters and police intervening with gunfire within Hamilton Hall among other continued threats.
‘Hamilton Hall’ has been renamed ‘Hind’s Hall’ by pro-Palestine activists in reference to Hind Rajab: a six-year-old Palestinian girl who was targeted by IDF tanks after attempting to flee from northern Gaza into Rafah: An Israeli designated safe zone. Audio of her hours long call to the Palestinian Red Crescent as the sole survivor of the attack, trapped inside a car with her dead family has since been published on various sites with “I’m so scared, please come. Come take me. Please will you come?” being her last words before The IDF opened fire, on record, killing her and 2 other paramedics sent to rescue her.
Rajab’s story is one of over 2 million individual horror stories from the Gaza Strip brought upon by the invasion of Palestine’s Gaza. the Israeli bombardment, after only 6 months, has killed over 33,000 Palestinians, or one in every 70 civilians in the Gaza Strip, 30% of which being eviscerated beyond identification.
The US’s violent crackdown have set a terrifying precedent for other states in their retaliation against Palestinians across the world. Recently, universities in Germany have unanimously declared Palestinians students as stateless, which has been criticized for stripping Palestinians of their statehood and identity. What may be view as violent, antisemitic, or pro-Hamas rioting stands as a testament to the cycle of opposition to resistance movements calling for the emancipation of victims of violent conflicts. Students need their voices to be heard especially now, as thousands of parents mark their child’s limbs to identify their dismembered bodies, and Israel invades Rafah: the very ‘safe zone’ Hind Rajab and her family failed to reach.
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