As I said before I'm no longer in college but I remember those idealistic days. I understand why the college students are holding pro-Palestinian protests, and I'm happy to see many Jewish students there, showing that Israel does not represent all Jews. Unfortunately the media is portraying the protests as anti-semitic, and colleges are calling the cops to crackdown on protesters. Like they learned nothing from the antiwar protests during Vietnam. I read many skeptics online saying scornfully, "what do they expect the colleges to do"? Well, the students have specific demands, such as divestment from Israel. They aren't expecting a magic end to the war; they have rational, concrete goals. I've personally been boycotting Israel for years. And I remember that college students protested against apartheid in South Africa and demanded divestment then. This is all within their 1st amendment rights, yet the world treats it as dangerous and violent and antisemitic; as if they were mindlessly rioting. It's sad that so few colleges are acting like Brown University, negotiating in good faith to de-escalate the tension. At least Biden said he would not deploy the National Guard to put down the protests.
Anyway, I heard that the ceasefire talks failed and Israel is threatening once more to invade Rafah. But the US put an ammunition shipment on hold, and Blinken says that the US will publicly oppose the invasion. Plus the US was supposed to start humanitarian aid using the new temporary pier this weekend. I hope these are good signs that maybe we'll withhold weapons too. We can't keep letting Israel commit war crimes with our help.
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