College Protests Gain Momentum for Palestinian Rights: A 1960s Redux

Pro-Palestinian protests have been gaining momentum on US college campuses, drawing parallels to the protests of the 1960s against the Vietnam War. Over 400 arrests have been made in just one week, starting from April 18 when around 100 young people at Columbia University in New York began demonstrating. The demonstrations have since spread to other campuses across the country, from California to Georgia, from Boston to Florida.

Students at these universities are demanding that their schools sever ties with companies that do business with Israel. They have organized encampments, sit-ins, and demonstrations in protest. Protests are ongoing at schools such as Columbia University, Harvard, New York University, and UC Berkeley. In Atlanta, Noelle McAfee, the chair of the philosophy department at Emory University, was handcuffed and escorted off campus by an officer while supporting the protesters.

Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, a naturalized American Somali elected to Congress in 2019, also showed up at Columbia University to support the protesters. Her daughter, Isra Hirsi, was among the group of pro-Palestinian protesters who were cleared from the university by police last week. The protests continue to escalate as students demand justice for Palestine and an end to Israeli occupation.