Though police were called to disperse students protesting in favour of Gazans at campuses in New York and Austin, Texas on Thursday, the protests have only spread, not just to other US campuses, but also campuses in other countries. This has two frightening implications for Zionists. First, that their long established hold on campuses is breaking down. Second, they are losing the younger generation, with all that means for the future of the Zionist lobby. There is a groundswell of silent support for these protests, as those who do not necessarily agree with them are wondering about why the right to assemble, and the right to free speech, should be so ruthlessly suppressed. The unquestioning obedience of the USA to Israel is being questioned. This questioning is very dangerous for the Zionists, because it leads to questions about what exactly Israel does to further US national interests. Apart from that, what price free speech? Muslims saddened and disgusted by the slaughter of Palestinians are left to wonder if free speech is only totted out as a totem to justify blasphemy against the Holy Prophet (PBUH).
It is possible to dismiss the protests as youthful rebellion, part of the process of growing up. Those young people braving arrest today, after all, are the bank managers and textile machinery salesmen of tomorrow. It does reflect something that the older generation, still loyal to Israel, tries to hide: despite the sickening slaughter and the imposition of starvation, the Israelis have killed over 34,000 people there, which is about 1.7 percent of the population there. The protests are also reflective of the emotionalism and soft-heartedness of youth. Their more rational elders have accepted the bloodshed as the cost of doing business. However, in this election year, US President Joe Biden should consider the consequences of alienating a lot of protesters, young rebels as they might be, who are voters, very often for the first time.
Student protests in the USA raise memories of the Kent State University shootings in June 1970, when four students were killed by the National Guard while protesting the Vietnam War. So far, no University has gone beyond the local police. So far, the US establishment is trying to control the situation by the talks in Qatar, but the refusal of Israel to give ground has led to a stalemate. How much longer can Western governments resist their young people? Youth, after all, has time on its side.
