The pro-Palestinian Students' Movements started in various US universities in the last week of April 2024 to stage protest against the ongoing Israeli atrocities in the Gaza Strip and other parts of Palestine. The students mainly demanded an end to the war, a solution to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and divestment from the US organisations that back Israel. However, the US Government and those organisations are unwilling to accept their demand. On the contrary, the concerned authorities in the US have started taking measures, such as arrests, detentions and expulsions (of protesting students from the universities), in an attempt to suppress the Students' Movements.
The Joe Biden Administration has argued that Students' Movements would help grow Anti-Semitism! According to a survey published in February 2024, two-thirds of Jewish people in the US feel more insecure in 2024 than they did in 2023 after the October 7 (2023) events in West Asia. Speaking at a recent event, President Biden highlighted the alarming resurgence of anti-Semitism, calling for concerted efforts to combat the issue!
Notably, anti-Semitism, a long-standing issue, is still there in different countries in various forms. An international report indicates that there has been a significant rise in anti-Semitic incidents around the world after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Incidents of hatred have taken place in Britain, France, Germany and even in the US, where the pro-Jewish groups have a strong presence, in recent times!
In such a scenario, the US Congress recently passed the Anti-Semitism Awareness Bill, expanding the definition of the term anti-Semitism used in Federal Anti-Discrimination Laws. If the US Senate clears this Bill, then the Bill shall become an Act, allowing the Joe Biden Administration to easily curtail Free Speech in university campuses! In view of the ongoing pro-Palestine Students' Movements, such an Act would be a cause of great concern.
Political analysts are of the opinion that the US students are staging protests against State Policies and they are not targeting any particular community. Interestingly, some Jewish students, too, have spontaneously joined the movement in some campuses, chanting slogans, like 'Not in our name' or 'Another Jew for Free Palestine'. The fact is that the Biden Administration has indulged in an old game of politics. As Washington DC has decided to stand firm in its Israel Policy in spite of the Students' Protests, it is trying hard to link the movement to anti-Semitism. The current developments in the US have proven yet again that when a State itself adopts an aggressive approach, it badly affects the civil society!
UNSC, EU Demand Immediate Ceasefire
The UN Security Council (UNSC) sent a strong message to Israel on May 15, 2024, asking the Jewish Nation to immediately stop the military operation in the Gaza Strip. The UNSC sent the message just a day after two UN officials were killed in an Israeli attack in besieged Gaza. However, Israel is not ready to do so.
Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza for the past seven months. After considering the destruction in Gaza and other regions of Palestine, the European Union (EU), too, has demanded an immediate ceasefire. The 27-member bloc has issued a statement, mentioning that the Israeli Army should immediately stop targeting Palestinian relief camps in Gaza and Rafah for humanitarian reasons. The EU also said that Israel's relations with Europe would deteriorate, if the attacks continued. However, the US has decided to resume the supply of arms and ammunition to Israel. Experts have opined that such a decision would create a distance between Europe and the US.
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