Israel / Palestine

[In2ition]

You don't understand which comment? That it's ok to call the administration? That's it's not illegal to call?

[In2ition]

Some paid bad actors seem to have infiltrated the groups around the country and world.

[AmareIsGod]

Some paid bad actors seem to have infiltrated the groups around the country and world.

I totally understand the concern about potential infiltrators or "bad actors" trying to escalate or disrupt the pro-Palestinian student protests. However, based on the link and other sources, it seems like this may be overblown or used as an excuse to crack down on the protests more broadly.

I'll break it down since I'll probably create run on sentences and paragraphs otherwise:

- While authorities claim to be investigating potential outside agitators, the core of the protests appears to be led by genuine students and activists concerned about Palestinian human rights violations.

- Protest organizers have widely condemned any violence or antisemitism, stating their goal is peaceful advocacy for Palestinian rights and an end to Israeli occupation.

- There will always be a few individuals looking to cause trouble at any large protest. But painting the entire movement as infiltrated risks unfairly delegitimizing it.

- We should be cautious about claims of "paid protesters" from shady sources trying to discredit the protests. These allegations often lack solid evidence.

- Even if there are some bad apples, the appropriate response is to identify and remove those specific individuals, not shut down the protests altogether or use excessive force against peaceful demonstrators.

The right to protest is fundamental in a democracy. While authorities have a duty to maintain order, they must also protect civil liberties and not conflate passionate activism with extremism or criminality. The best solution is to separate any true bad actors from the majority exercising their constitutional rights to assembly and free speech on a crucial human rights issue. I just had this very debate with my father over coffee yesterday and he shared the exact same points you did. This all just tries to discredit the true reason for why these protests are happening in the first place (and not by you, specifically, but the bad actors and the agenda of inserting them in the first place).

[In2ition]

Some paid bad actors seem to have infiltrated the groups around the country and world.

I totally understand the concern about potential infiltrators or "bad actors" trying to escalate or disrupt the pro-Palestinian student protests. However, based on the link and other sources, it seems like this may be overblown or used as an excuse to crack down on the protests more broadly.

I'll break it down since I'll probably create run on sentences and paragraphs otherwise:

- While authorities claim to be investigating potential outside agitators, the core of the protests appears to be led by genuine students and activists concerned about Palestinian human rights violations.

- Protest organizers have widely condemned any violence or antisemitism, stating their goal is peaceful advocacy for Palestinian rights and an end to Israeli occupation.

- There will always be a few individuals looking to cause trouble at any large protest. But painting the entire movement as infiltrated risks unfairly delegitimizing it.

- We should be cautious about claims of "paid protesters" from shady sources trying to discredit the protests. These allegations often lack solid evidence.

- Even if there are some bad apples, the appropriate response is to identify and remove those specific individuals, not shut down the protests altogether or use excessive force against peaceful demonstrators.

The right to protest is fundamental in a democracy. While authorities have a duty to maintain order, they must also protect civil liberties and not conflate passionate activism with extremism or criminality. The best solution is to separate any true bad actors from the majority exercising their constitutional rights to assembly and free speech on a crucial human rights issue. I just had this very debate with my father over coffee yesterday and he shared the exact same points you did. This all just tries to discredit the true reason for why these protests are happening in the first place (and not by you, specifically, but the bad actors and the agenda of inserting them in the first place).

I agree with all of that.

[Mori Chu]

UW joins in with its own encampments:

[Nodack]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... dline.html
A group of anti-Israel protesters at Columbia University have seized the historic Hamilton Hall, smashing windows, unfurling an intifada banner, and are refusing to leave, with their actions being compared to the January 6 insurrection.

Columbia student’s lawyer ‘There are straight-out calls for the genocide of Jews’
https://thehill.com/homenews/education/ ... cide-jews/
“The encampment has been the center of round-the-clock harassment of Jewish students, who have been punched, shoved, spat upon, blocked from attending classes and moving freely about campus, and targeted by pro-terrorist hate speech –– both verbal and in written form on massive banners and signs –– with statements such as: ‘Death to the Jews’; ‘Long live Hamas’; ‘Globalize the Intifada,'” the lawsuit said.

Where the hell are the parents of these deluded Columbia students chanting about attacking Jews?
https://nypost.com/2024/04/30/opinion/w ... king-jews/
The increasingly disturbing situation on Columbia’s campus exploded last night in shocking and shameful scenes as a violent mob broke into one of the university’s historic buildings, then brandished a banner with the word “INTIFADA.”

As if there were any doubt about their intentions, they brazenly harassed and intimidated Jewish students, holding some against their will.

But as I’ve watched this escalating mayhem, one thought has kept recurring to me: Where the hell are their parents?

How could anyone be happy or proud of their child abandoning their hugely expensive tuition to be part of a self-styled intifada against Jews?
For days now, the Columbia demonstrators have been chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” and “There is only one solution — intifada revolution!”

Neither of those phrases is ambiguous or remotely peaceful.

The “From the river to the sea” chant alludes to the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, where, of course, Israel sits.

To a Jewish ear, it is a violent call to erase Israel from existence, which is the stated intent of Hamas.

I’m all for the right to peaceful protest — it’s the bedrock of any democratic society.

And I’m all for university students vociferously expressing themselves about world events.

But when they make direct calls for violent action against Jews, that doesn’t just cross my red line, it tramples all over it.

[Mori Chu]

Another campus protest with police intervention, this one at CCNY.

[Cap]

The right to peacefully gather on the quad should be protected, even if I don’t agree with what they’re saying, and even if they advocate boycotting me for being Jewish. As long as they’re nonviolent, we should let them be.

[Mori Chu]

[In2ition]

I'm not sure about this. A slightly longer version, she says that she's just asking to the college to not block food and water from coming to them.

[Nodack]

Getting ugly out there.

[Kryptonic]

Yea they set up a massive camp at NAU my son says…. Really messed up since it’s finals week and kids are trying to wrap up classes. Pisses me off…. Go protest government buildings not kids who are trying to get an education for their careers.

[Nodack]

Bill Maher made a joke that the reason they are doing this is because of finals week as in getting out of having to take the finals.

[Mori Chu]

These campus protests have gotten really bad. They're a real Rorschach test; if you're strongly pro-Israel, you see a group of rowdy violent pro-Palestine protestors occupying campuses, breaking laws, causing trouble. If you're pro-Palestine, you see the police and pro-Israeli counter-protestors causing most of the trouble, hurting the pro-Palestine protestors, violating their right to peacefully protest. Either way the whole thing is really out of control and bad. Politically, this seems likely to hurt Biden with young voters, many of whom are upset about this issue.

[Nodack]

Sad all around.

[Nodack]

Iran university offers scholarships to US students expelled over Gaza war protests
https://www.the-express.com/news/us-new ... r-protests

[In2ition]

Degree from Columbia(or any of the other schools) vs. degree from Iran? Which one is more valuable?

[Nodack]

I think it is more of a political jab by Iran than a real offer.

[Nodack]

Anti-Israel protests infiltrated by ‘outside agitators’ who radicalize students, sow violence
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/20 ... 2#cxrecs_s
“While those who broke into the building did include students, it was led by individuals who are not affiliated with the university,” said Mr. Adams at a Wednesday press briefing.

Rebecca Weiner, NYPD deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism, said the protests were infiltrated by “different individuals who we know from over the years associated with protests, not just in our city, but other cities as well.”
The result was “a change of tactics” in the protest environment that culminated Monday with demonstrators breaking into Hamilton Hall, using zip-ties to create furniture barricades, forcing public safety personnel out of the building, and allegedly threatening a facilities worker.
Other signs that the protest had been breached by outside actors included “the black bloc attire, the breaking of windows, breaking doors, the vandalism, property destruction, the barricading, makeshift weapons that we recovered in the encampment.”
“That change in tactics combined with the presence of known individuals on campus in the lead-up to what happened at Hamilton Hall is why we had a real elevated concern around public safety,” said Ms. Weiner.

Columbia and CCNY weren’t alone. The University of Texas at Austin said that of the 79 protesters arrested at the campus Monday, 45 had no affiliation with UT Austin.

In addition, the university said it has confiscated from protesters a host of weapons, including “guns, buckets of large rocks, bricks, steel enforced wood planks, mallets, and chains.”
“Staff have been physically assaulted and threatened, and police have been headbutted and hit with horse excrement, while their police cars have had tires slashed with knives,” said the university. “This is calculated, intentional and, we believe, orchestrated and led by those outside our University community.”

[Mori Chu]

Degree from Columbia(or any of the other schools) vs. degree from Iran? Which one is more valuable?

I think you're just trolling, but this is silly. Columbia is still a good school, and their grads will still get good jobs. This isn't a "Bud Light" situation where you and your conservative buddies can boycott something until it's genuflecting and begging for your forgiveness.