Amnesty International USA issued a press release on Thursday, condemning university administrations and the police for obstructing and repressing largely peaceful protests against Israel’s military operations in Gaza.
This statement comes after various issues between protesting students, and school administrations and the police. In December of 2023, the US House Committee on Education opened a formal investigation into Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania over their response to rising levels of antisemitism.
In March, students sue MIT for alleged complicity in antisemitism on campus. On April 22, police, at the request of the University’s president, entered the campus of Columbia University to disperse a protest and conduct mass arrests of students. These are just a few of the many incidents documented over the last several months, including universities such as Cornell, Cooper Union, Boston University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Wellesley, Stanford, and UC Berkeley. According to the Washington Post, demonstrations involving students and faculty have resulted in more than 2,000 arrests.
The conflict in Israel has created serious concerns for the Jewish student community across the country. Hillel International research indicates four out of every five Jewish students say the situation in Israel and Gaza is affecting them. Two out of every three Jewish students are sad. Over half of Jewish students are scared. More than one in three Jewish students say…
