The nationwide university protests in the USA against the Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip have been going on for several weeks. There were repeated violent confrontations between demonstrators and security forces.
The pro-Palestinian demonstrators are demanding that universities cut their financial and economic ties to Israel. Israel supporters have denounced anti-Semitic incidents during the university protests.
US President Joe Biden condemned a “wild upsurge” of anti-Semitism in a speech commemorating the Holocaust on Tuesday. He said there should be no space for “anti-Semitism or hate speech or threats of violence of any kind” on any college campus in the United States or anywhere else in the country.
The pro-Palestinian US university protests began at Columbia University in New York. In view of the protests, the elite university has now canceled its central graduation ceremony, which had been planned for May 15th.
The Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip was triggered by the unprecedented major attack on Israel by the radical Islamic Palestinian organization Hamas on October 7th. According to Israeli information, around 1,170 people were killed and around 250 others were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip.
The subsequent Israeli attacks in the Palestinian territory have now killed more than 34,800 people, according to figures from the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, which cannot be independently verified.
