Censorship, Suppression, and Detention: Pro-Palestine Rallies Raise Fears Among ‘Israel’ Supporters

By Zeinab Abdallah

Lebanon - There is no wonder that the supporters of the Zionist entity are dying to take any possible lifesaving measure to help the child-killing entity. Such measures include silencing the voices raised to denounce the entity’s crimes committed against the Palestinian people in Gaza and all over the occupied territories.

With Columbia being the focal point for anti-war demonstrations, more pro-Palestine camps have been set up across US universities of Yale, Brown, Harvard, Ohio, Emerson, North Carolina, Michigan and Boston as the war on Gaza approaches seven months since it erupted on October 7.

The Pro-Palestinian protests have gained momentum at American universities, with students raging against Washington’s all-out support for the ‘Tel Aviv’ entity’s ongoing genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

A large group of demonstrators has established a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” at Columbia University in New York, where hundreds of students have been calling on the university to divest from companies that have ties to the ‘Israeli’ entity.

As a means of trying to confront the rallies, university authorities announced that classes would be held virtually on Monday.

Given a deadline to end their sit-in, students at the University of Columbia reported that they have been threatened with bringing the country’s National Guard… What a freedom of expression they are experiencing in the country that claims to guarantee democracy and freedoms!

Those students, like their fellows across the states, are just demanding the end of war on Gaza, yet are faced with a wide-scale detention campaign…

In a related context, the vast majority of the Columbia College Student Council has agreed to pass a referendum that asks the university to withdraw investments from the occupation entity, cancel the inauguration of the ‘Tel Aviv’ Global Center, and end the Dual Degree Program in which students will earn two bachelor's diplomas, one from ‘Tel Aviv’ University and the other from Columbia University.

Earlier in the week, authorities deployed the police, who rounded up more than a hundred protesters. The move sparked a bigger turnout over the weekend.

On Thursday alone, The New York Times reported that the New York Police Department tried to disperse a pro-Palestine demonstration at Columbia University, detaining dozens of activists who had set up an encampment of around 50 tents on campus.

The arrests, which brought a fresh gathering of students to support the protesters, occurred the day after university authorities promised Congress that they would crack down on student rallies related to the Zionist war on Gaza.

In response, the New York Civil Liberties Union, in conjunction with a Palestinian advocacy group, initiated legal action against Columbia University for its decision to suspend two pro-Palestinian organizations advocating for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The legal action is a reflection of the latest development in how unrest on college campuses is unfolding across the United States amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Additionally, the institution of Harvard has limited access to Harvard Yard until Friday afternoon, according to the Harvard Crimson, in an attempt to block students from protesting.

Harvard College suspended the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee [PSC] and ordered the group to “cease all organizational activities for the remainder of the Spring 2024 term” or risk permanent expulsion, according to an email obtained by The Crimson.

The PSC released a statement Monday afternoon which stated that the organization’s suspension comes after “months of administrative repression, harassment and stalking by our own peers, and intimidation from right-wing politicians and donors.”

“After standing idly by as pro-Palestine students faced physical and cyber harassment, death threats and rape threats, and racist doxxing, Harvard has now decided to dismantle the only official student group dedicated to the task of representing the Palestinian cause,” the statement reads.

“For the past 6 months, PSC has faced unprecedented repression - doxxing, racist harassment, and targeted administrative crackdowns - as we’ve protested the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” the PSC also wrote on Instagram. “After being placed on an illegitimate and retroactive probation, PSC has been suspended.”

“We call on the Harvard community to fight against repression and join the movement for Palestinian liberation,” the post continued. “History is watching you.”

Also on Monday, at least 47 people were arrested at Yale after ‘refusing requests to disperse.’

Rather than slamming the ‘Israeli’ genocide, US President Joe Biden denounced the student protests, saying he condemned those whom he alleged “don't understand what's going on with the Palestinians.” Biden’s country, instead, has been throwing unreserved political, military, and intelligence support behind the ‘Israeli’ war.

At least 34,200 Palestinian people have been martyred across the Gaza Strip ever since the onset of the ‘Israeli’ military onslaught, with women and children comprising some 72 percent of martyrs. The war has wounded more than 77,200 others.

For the clear-minded, it is certain that the oppressive measures practiced against those protesters neither serve the ‘Israeli’ interests nor erase the genocide the entity is committing. Instead, the dictatorial practices cement the fact that once a murderer is cornered, it seeks unjustified actions resulting from its confusion as well as bankruptcy of options.

As everything happens around, history is watching, and the present generations will bear witness to the future ones about the truth of every day of this history…