With the spread of university students protests against Israel’s brutal war on Gaza from US to many other countries, experts say huge changes are expected regarding Israel-Palestine issue.
Mass protests against Israel’s violent war on Gaza erupted since last week in many universities across the United States. Thousands of young Americans are now in the streets across the US, narrowing down the space for US politicians in their blind support for Israel. The US police, however, is acting with unprecedented force and violence against pro-Gaza protests, with so many videos showing US police officers beating to death young students.
The students are largely demanding that their universities disclose their investments and withdraw any funds from weapons manufacturers and firms involved with the Israeli military.
Politicians from both major US parties, as well as the White House and pro-Israel groups, have accused the students of fueling anti-Semitism – allegations that protesters vehemently deny. But the more the police tried to suppress the protests, the more they grew city by city across the country and even beyond US borders.
From this Wednesday, young university students in other countries, including France, Italy, UK, and Australia have been holding pro-Gaza demonstrations to urge their governments to stop supporting Israel in the war against Gazans, where the Israeli military offensive has killed more than 34,000 people and its blockade has caused starvation since October 7.
Likewise, Sorbonne University students in France took to the streets this Thursday and the Palestine Committee from Sciences Po in Paris also organized a protest where students set up about 10 tents on Wednesday. Despite a police crackdown, the protesters regathered on Thursday. In Italy, students from Sapienza University set up demonstrations, sit-ins and hunger strike on the same days to show their support for Palestine.
Similarly, students from the University of Sydney in Australia organized pro-Palestine encampments on Thursday and Friday. University of Melbourne students also held similar protests the same days. In the United Kingdom, students from the University of Warwick’s group Warwick Stands with Palestine have occupied the campus piazza. In Leicester, a protest broke out on Monday in which students from the University of Leicester Palestine Society also participated.
What impacts can this universal movement have on the Israel-Palestine issue?
Experts believe that this massive and global wave of supporting Palestine against Israel will surely have significant effects on the political perspective of the United States towards Israel and can change the traditional relationship between Washington and Tel Aviv.
“With young people’s willingness to challenge politicians and college administrators on display nationwide, the opinion gap – with younger Americans generally more supportive of Palestinians than the generations that came before them – can pose a risk to the bipartisan backing that Israel enjoys in Washington,” said Omar Wasow, assistant professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley.
“We’re already seeing evidence of a generation divide on Israel, and that is going to be a long-term issue for the Democratic Party,” Wasow also noted speaking to Al-Jazeer this Saturday.
Eman Abdelhadi, a sociologist at the University of Chicago, also addressed the issue and said younger people in the US and around the world “are growing increasingly frustrated with the status quo on domestic and foreign policy issues, notably the Israel-Palestine conflict.”
Explaining that in the US history in general, usually the big shifts in public opinion have either coincided with or been triggered by large student movements,” Abdelhadi also noted that the protests mark an “inflexion moment” in US public opinion towards Israel more broadly than ever.
For years, public opinion polls in the US suggest that younger people are more likely to be sympathetic towards Palestinians and critical of Israel. But Americans overall have grown more critical of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, including in the ongoing war on Gaza.
