Stop the killing in Gaza! America is rocked by the biggest protests since the Vietnam War

Already in October of last year, protests broke out at American universities. However, the situation became noticeably worse in the spring of 2024. The escalation occurred after the administration of Columbia University called the police on students who were camping right in the middle of the campus in Manhattan.

This sparked a wave of other similar actions across the country. Student activism is developing especially dramatically on the west coast of the USA. Police and protesters clashed there at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The protests are linked to the current war situation in the Gaza Strip. Here, on the morning of October 7, 2023, the armed conflict began with a combined rocket shelling of Israeli territory and a ground attack by terrorists from the Hamas movement against military and civilian targets in Israel.

Currently, the war has already claimed 30,000 victims. Most of the 2.3 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip have been forced to leave their homes because of the fighting. Civilians are also dying from lack of food, according to news sources. It is not possible to effectively get humanitarian aid to the location, the Gaza Strip is completely cut off. Infectious diseases are also widespread here.

It is this escalation of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians that has become the proverbial trigger for conflict in academia as well. Police have already arrested dozens of people on the campuses of Yale and New York University. In response to current developments, Columbia University has also canceled face-to-face classes.

In addition, according to political commentators, the protests reflect the disgust of a part of American society. She does not approve of the Israeli campaign against the terrorist movement Hamas, which is accompanied by the killing of thousands of civilians.

President Biden calls for an end to violence

In this connection with current events, President Joe Biden both appealed for the preservation of freedom of speech and at the same time drew attention to the need to obey the law. At the same time, he condemned above all any violence and emphasized that the right to peaceful protest is protected. He also evaluated any hate speech as unacceptable, including anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and racism.

Former US President Donald Trump strongly condemned the protests. But he recalled the infamous rally of the extreme right in Charlottesville in 2017, which, according to him, cannot be compared to the current violence on American universities.

According to foreign commentators, the protests attract activists from outside, who further inflame the tense atmosphere. And the former president adds imaginary fuel to the fire by trivializing the racist speeches in Charlottesville in the context of a tense situation. White House spokesman Andrew Bates called it “abhorrent.”

World governments are also calling for an end to the bombing of Palestinian civilians. The loss of life in these cases is enormous. At the same time, we must always remind ourselves that these are not anonymous statistical data, but concrete human destinies. Victims of Russian aggression in Ukraine also suffer from similar dehumanization, media warn.

Do the two seemingly similar conflicts have anything in common? In fact, they are very different. A classic war is taking place before the eyes of the whole world, and in contrast to it, a military-police operation. As part of the war in Ukraine, it is necessary to stop the aggressor, who will clearly not be satisfied with the conquered territory of the neighboring state. Russia clearly does not hide its intentions to restore the empire within the borders of the former USSR.

The war in the Gaza Strip must end

The fighting in the Gaza Strip is part of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which continues for a long time. We can practically date its beginnings to the beginning of the 20th century. The Wall Street Journal ranked the war in the Gaza Strip among the most destructive in modern history. According to experts, the restoration of this location will take up to decades.

However, both current conflicts have one thing in common. Ultimately, this is violence that results in numerous civilian casualties. The unleashing of mass terror against Israeli civilians can be considered a deliberate provocation by Hamas, to which Israel responded by escalating. However, violence only creates a breeding ground for more violence.

A simplistic view of terrorists and defenders is depoliticizing. Above all, in this case, it is necessary not to side with either of the hostile parties and simply appeal for an end to the bloodshed, as escalated brutality always has drastic consequences.

At the same time, two factors significantly determine the course of the fighting. It is both the time and the American influence. Leading American officials are currently heading to Israel very often. Lloyd Austin, who probably coordinates American military aid to Israel, also made the trip recently, as Czech media reported.

The United States is also currently pushing hard for a cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement as soon as possible. This should ensure the return of hostages held since the movement’s terrorist attack on Israeli territory on October 7.

According to foreign agencies, ex-president Trump, on the other hand, called on Israel to complete the offensive. The media had previously labeled him as a dangerous populist. Trump’s politicians, as the situation in neighboring Slovakia proves, among other things, incite attacks and hostility, but ultimately disrespect for the truth and conspiracy theories, which can be used to commit crimes against democracy.