Recently, Pro-Palestine protests sparked on Columbia University’s East Butler Lawn. The protesters put up posters renaming the lawn “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” and “Liberated Zone”. This demonstration led to several more encampments on other college campuses namely UCLA, USC, Harvard, and MIT. The protesters say goal is to bring awareness to the genocide in Gaza, the occupation of Palestine, and to end their university’s ties to weapon research for Israel, however on the other side of the spectrum, Jewish students say they have experienced antisemitism on campus and videos have come out showing protesters blocking students from going into class. One Jewish student at Columbia said he had been spit on for speaking Hebrew on campus. Other non-Jewish students say they are tired of the violent language and cancellation of their classes.  

These instances have caused many schools to call the police and have the protesters arrested. Some places have also suspended students for partaking in these demonstrations.  One protester, Isra Hirsi, daughter of U.S. representative Ilhan Omar, was among those arrested. During an interview on MSNBC she said, “This is 100% targeted. Every single protest that we have there’s a group of counter protesters that bring their items, their flags and things like that and they’re not seen as having an unsanctioned protest.” Many of these protesters think that they are being targeted by police for simply protesting in solidarity with Palestinians. Chants to defund the police and protesters holding signs saying, “NYPD, KKK, IDF, they’re all the same!” have also taken place in certain protests.   

Given the immense amount of disagreement, the potential of violence breaking out seems inevitable. In fact, the UCLA protests were the most violent with protesters throwing tear gas and fireworks at each other and barricading themselves with wooden planks. Many believe that this is due to law enforcement not enforcing the law at these protests. At other schools, protesters were caught on tape attacking police officers by dumping water at them and charging them with cut out pieces of a plastic trash can. Those on the Palestinian side argue that they are doing these things in self defense, however on the opposing side people say that they are doing this because they hate western civilization. They say that the burning of the American flag and violent anti-American and anti-Israeli chants at some protests are undeniable pieces of evidence.

The resolution of these protests remains unclear. Protesters and Universities have yet to reach an agreement to end the demonstrations. Currently, some protesters are being removed by police for taking over buildings and refusing to leave campus grounds when asked by their college. However this doesn’t stop protesters from returning or protesting somewhere else. One student at Columbia, who wished to remain anonymous, stated, “We are here to demand change, and we won’t stop until our voices are heard.”  What is going on right now has escalated to more than just a college campus issue, it is now a national issue that has many people divided. These protests now have a powerful influence on the 2024 presidential election and other elections in the country. Protesters are not in favor of Donald Trump or Joe Biden. This will most likely be a major issue in the future as well.