2024 pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses

For a list of protests internationally and in the United States, see List of pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses in 2024 and List of pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses in the United States in 2024.

2024 pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses
Part of the Israel–Hamas war protests
Clockwise from top: Columbia University University of Oregon Harvard University University of Sydney Monash University McGill University University of Amsterdam
Date	April 17, 2024 – present (6 months, 3 weeks and 2 days)
Location	United States Other countries Argentina Austria Australia Bangladesh Belgium Brazil Canada Costa Rica Cuba Denmark Egypt Finland France Germany India Indonesia Iraq Ireland Italy Japan Kuwait Lebanon Mexico Netherlands New Zealand Spain Tunisia United Kingdom Yemen
Caused by	Opposition to U.S. support for Israel Alleged genocide in Gaza Investments in Israel
Goals	Universities divesting from Israel
Methods	Protests Civil disobedience Lawsuits Picketing Rolling strikes Occupation Civil disorder
Casualties
Injuries	15-25+ protesters hospitalized
Arrested	2,900+ protesters

Pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses escalated in April 2024, spreading in the United States and other countries, as part of wider Israel–Hamas war protests. The escalation began after mass arrests at the Columbia University campus occupation, led by anti-Zionist groups, in which protesters demanded the university's disinvestment from Israel over its alleged genocide of Palestinians. In the United States over 2,950 protesters have been arrested, including faculty members and professors, on over 60 campuses. On May 7, protests spread across Europe with mass arrests in the Netherlands. As of May 12, 20 encampments have been established in the United Kingdom, and across universities in Australia and Canada. Some protesters have called the movement a "student intifada".

The different protests' varying demands include severing financial ties with Israel and its affiliated entities, transparency over financial ties, and amnesty for protesters. The occupations have resulted in the closure of Columbia University and Cal Poly Humboldt; Portland State University pausing financial ties with Boeing over its ties to Israel; and Trinity College Dublin agreeing to end certain investments in Israeli companies. Several other universities made agreements with protesters in order for encampments to be dismantled, some universities' graduation ceremonies were canceled, and protests occurred at various graduation ceremonies in May 2024. Universities have suspended students, with some also expelled. The protests have been compared to the 1960s anti-Vietnam protests, the 1968 protests.

Over 200 groups have expressed support for the protests, as well as Jewish U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and multiple progressive members of Congress. Some prominent pro-Israel figures have described the protests as antisemitic, including President Joe Biden, former president Donald Trump, U.S. governors, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Pro-Palestinian and Jewish student protesters at Columbia have insisted the protests are not antisemitic. The police response to the protests has also been criticized by various Democrats and human rights organizations. The protests sparked controversy due to the removal of US flags from multiple locations and their substitution with Palestinian flags.

Background

Further information: Israel–Hamas war protests in the United States § Universities

Protests, including rallies, demonstrations, campaigns, and vigils related to the Israel–Hamas war have occurred across the U.S. since the conflict's start on October 7, 2023, alongside other Israel–Hamas war protests around the world. Pro-Palestinian protesters criticized U.S. military and diplomatic support for Israel and Israel's invasion of the Gaza Strip and its war conduct, which some called a genocide.

Students occupying administrative buildings were arrested at the request of college administrators at Brown University in November and December 2023, and at Pomona College on April 5, 2024. In March 2024, after protesters occupied the president’s office at Vanderbilt University, the university suspended students and expelled three. These were "believed to be the first student expulsions over protests related to the Israel-Hamas conflict", according to The New York Times.

Protests

These paragraphs are an excerpt from List of pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses in 2024.[edit]

This is a list of pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses in 2024 since protests escalated on April 17, beginning with the Columbia University campus occupation. As of May 6, student protests have occurred in 45 out of 50 states in the United States, and the District of Columbia, with encampments, occupations, walkouts or sit-ins on almost 140 campuses.

Thirty four encampments were established in the United Kingdom; across universities in Australia, beginning with the University of Sydney; and in Canada, including an encampment at McGill University. On May 7, protests spread further on European campuses after mass arrests at the University of Amsterdam campus occupation, including occupation of campus buildings at Leipzig University in Germany, Sciences Po in France, and Ghent University in Belgium. As of May 8, protests have taken place in more than 25 countries. On May 13, approximately 1,000 Dutch students and university staff took part in a national walk-out.

First encampment protest at Columbia University

• First encampment after arrests, April 18
• Growth of second encampment, April 23

This section is an excerpt from 2024 Columbia University pro-Palestinian campus occupations.[edit]

A series of occupation protests by pro-Palestinian students occurred at Columbia University in New York City from April to June 2024, in the context of the broader Israel–Hamas war protests in the United States. The protests began on April 17, 2024, when pro-Palestinian students established an encampment of approximately 50 tents on the university campus, calling it the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, and demanded the university divest from Israel.

The first encampment was dismantled when university president Minouche Shafik authorized the New York City Police Department (NYPD) to enter the campus on April 18 and conduct mass arrests. A new encampment was built the next day. The administration then entered into negotiations with protesters, which failed on April 29 and resulted in the suspension of student protesters. The next day, protesters broke into and occupied Hamilton Hall, leading to a second NYPD raid, the arrest of more than 100 protesters, and the full dismantling of the camp. The arrests marked the first time Columbia allowed police to suppress campus protests since the 1968 demonstrations against the Vietnam War. On May 31, a third campus encampment was briefly established in response to an alumni reunion.

As a result of the protests, Columbia University switched to hybrid learning (incorporating more online learning) for the rest of the semester. The protests encouraged other actions at multiple universities. Several antisemitic incidents took place near the protests. Organizers have said they were the work of outside agitators and non-students. Pro-Palestinian Jewish protesters have said that incidents of antisemitism by protesters are not representative of the protest movement. On May 6, the school administration canceled the university-wide graduation ceremony scheduled for May 15. Shafik announced her resignation from the presidency on August 14.

Spread in the United States

These paragraphs are an excerpt from List of pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses in the United States in 2024.[edit]

Demonstrations initially spread in the United States on April 22, when students at several universities on the East Coast—including New York University, Yale University, Emerson College, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Tufts University—began occupying campuses, as well as experiencing mass arrests in New York and at Yale. Protests emerged throughout the U.S. in the following days, with protest camps established on over 40 campuses. On April 25, mass arrests occurred at Emerson College, the University of Southern California, and the University of Texas at Austin.

A continued crackdown on April 27 led to approximately 275 arrests at Washington, Northeastern, Arizona State, and Indiana University Bloomington. Several professors were among those detained at Emory University, and at Washington University in St. Louis, university employees were arrested. On April 28, counter-protests were held at MIT, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). On April 30, approximately 300 protesters were arrested at Columbia University and City College of New York; and pro-Israel counter-protesters attacked the UCLA campus occupation, The following day over 200 arrests were made at UCLA.

Overview

Demands

Many of the protests involve student demands that their schools sever financial ties to Israel and companies involved in the conflict, as well as an end to U.S. military support for Israel, as part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Some protests have also demanded that the universities sever academic ties with Israel, support a ceasefire in Gaza, and disclose investments. Student demands have varied among the different occupations, including for universities to stop accepting research money from Israel that supports the military, and an end to college endowments investing with managers who profit from Israeli entities.

Student protesters called on Columbia University to financially divest from any company with business ties to the Israeli government, including Microsoft, Google and Amazon. NYU Alumni for Palestine called on New York University to "terminate all vendor contracts with companies playing active roles in the military occupation in Palestine and ongoing genocide in Gaza, namely Cisco, Lockheed Martin, Caterpillar and General Electric". Pro-Palestinian protesters demanded that the University of Washington cut ties with Boeing. Students at the University of Vermont demanded the cancellation of a planned commencement speech by Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

After several mass arrests, the demands have also included amnesty for students and faculty who were disciplined or fired for protesting. The protests on many campuses are created by coalitions of student groups, and are largely independent, but some have claimed that they were inspired by other campus protests. All have disavowed violence.

Impact

In April 2024, the occupations resulted in the closure of Columbia University and Cal Poly Humboldt for the remainder of the semester, and votes of no confidence were also initiated by faculty members in California, Georgia, and Texas. Columbia, Cal Poly Humboldt, and the University of Southern California canceled their graduation ceremonies due in May. On May 13, the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands closed for two days after renewed occupations on campus.

Protests at the graduation ceremonies subsequently occurred at the University of Michigan, Northeastern University, the University of Illinois Chicago, Indiana University, Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of North Carolina, and the University of California, Berkeley. After demands from protesters, the University of Vermont canceled the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations ceremony speaker Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

On April 28, Portland State University (PSU) announced it was pausing its financial ties with Boeing, including gifts and grants, over its ties to Israel. PSU President Ann Cudd wrote in a campus-wide letter, "the passion with which these demands are being repeatedly expressed by some in our community motivates". On May 6, Trinity College Dublin agreed to end its investments in Israeli companies that are listed on the United Nations Human Rights Council "blacklist" after an encampment on Fellow’s Square was erected. This included three of the 13 Israeli companies the university's endowment fund had invested in.

Other universities have said they will consider divestment demands regarding Israel-affiliated companies. Some have agreed to disclose their investments and committed to increase awareness about Palestine. Universities that have come to agreements with protesters over certain demands, in order for encampments to be dismantled, include Northwestern University on April 29; Brown University and Evergreen State College on April 30; the University of Minnesota on May 1; Rutgers University on May 2; Goldsmiths, University of London and University of California, Riverside on May 3; and Thompson Rivers University on May 4. Additionally, Wesleyan University and the University of California, Berkeley have allowed encampments on campus to continue. On May 8, the University of Barcelona Senate voted to break ties with Israel. On May 15, the protest encampment at Harvard University ended after the administration agreed to discuss the protesters' demands, as well as agreeing to retract the suspension of 20 students. At California State University, Sonoma State campus president Mike Lee was placed on leave after he agreed to pursue divestment from Israel "without the appropriate approvals".

Participants

Pro-Palestinian protesters march past pro-Israel counter-protesters at San Diego State University.

Some of the protests are organized by groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace, founded in 1996 as a progressive Jewish anti-Zionist organization; IfNotNow, founded during the 2014 Gaza War; and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which has over 200 North American chapters. In late 2023, SJP chapters were banned or suspended on university campuses at Brandeis University, Columbia University, and Rutgers University. In Florida, chapters were ordered to disband. In response, SJP chapters at the University of Florida and University of South Florida filed federal lawsuits. Pro-Palestinian students were also doxxed by Accuracy in Media at Harvard, Columbia, and Yale University.

Participants include students, faculty and non-campus individuals of various backgrounds, with both Jews and Muslims participating. Pro-Palestinian activists at Columbia have said that their movement is anti-Zionist, and several protests on campuses have been organized by anti-Zionist groups. According to The Jerusalem Post, protesters at Harvard University in a press conference called the campus occupation movement a "student intifada", a term echoed by protesters at George Washington University, Stanford University, Indiana University Bloomington, as well as Palestinians in Gaza, while calling for an escalation in protests. Protesters have identified a wide range of other ideologies motivating them, such as antiracism, intersectionality, anti-colonialism, anti-imperialism, policing, the impact of climate change, and Indigenous rights. At Columbia, Maoist revolutionary slogans were listed on blackboards among protesters who breached Hamilton Hall.

Protesters have criticized Joe Biden and his administration's support for Israel. The protests have hosted teach-ins, interfaith prayer, and musical performances. Some protests invited people to tour or speak, such as Palestinian photojournalist Motaz Azaiza, who was invited to and visited Columbia's protest. The Palestinian activist Linda Sarsour said, "These young people are reaffirming and demonstrating that the tide is shifting on Palestine, that the Palestinian people have solidarity not just across the United States of America, but across the world".

Far-right agitators and white nationalists have been seen at some protests seeking to sow chaos and violence, and at the UCLA campus occupation, where among pro-Israeli counter-protesters who attacked the encampment. A white supremacist affiliated with Proud Boys has been among the counter-protesters supported by far-right activists across the country. Experts have raised concerns over far-right groups attempting to infiltrate protests to cause harm, and subsequent reactions from militant far-left activists aligned with the anti-fascist movement.

Concern has been raised over the presence of outside groups at protests. During arrests in New York on May 2, police announced that nearly half of those arrested at Columbia and CCNY were unaffiliated with either school. Mayor Eric Adams said that they had seen evidence that outside agitators and "professionals" such as Lisa Fithian and the wife of Sami Al-Arian had given students tactical knowledge and training to escalate their protests.

Many protesters have donned masks and keffiyehs, which has increased concerns from provosts and deans that outsiders have infiltrated protests. Some Jewish students fear that the anonymity gives greater license for evading consequence. Protesters have expressed fears of having reputational and professional harm from identification.

Analysis

The Guardian called the protests "perhaps the most significant student movement since the anti-Vietnam campus protests of the late 1960s". Protests at Columbia University have been compared to the 1968 protests due to their scale and tactics, and as echoing the 1968 movement. According to The Independent, protesters studied the 1968 movement. A Columbia undergraduate said that student organizers learned from the experiences of older generations, calling the movement "completely built" on the legacy of the 1968 protests. Mark Rudd, who led protests against the Vietnam War at Columbia in the 1960s, said, "For me, it’s the most normal thing in the world to look at the murder of 34,000 people and the displacement of close to 2 million in Gaza and say, ‘Hey, stop!"

Former Columbia University student leaders from the era of protests against apartheid in the 1980s, including BDS co-founder Omar Barghouti and historian Barbara Ransby, said the "intersecting issues of war, racism and colonialism" were focal points in the movements of 1968, the 1980s, and 2024—and that the similarities are clear among the periods. The New York Times reported that some scholars consider the current protests starkly different from those against the Vietnam War or apartheid South Africa. According to Timothy Naftali, protests against Vietnam in the 1960s did not result in a constituency that felt attacked as an ethnicity, and the "demonstrations now are creating a feeling of insecurity in a much bigger way than the antiwar demonstrations during Vietnam did."

Far-right influencers and some Republicans have portrayed the protests as violent, a "Marxist takeover," and "terrorism". The New York Times noted that the protests have come during a presidential election year in which Democrats have "harnessed promises of stability and normalcy to win critical recent elections," and that the protests are a messaging opportunity for Republicans to divide Democrats. Both Columbia Professor of Journalism Helen Benedict and Johns Hopkins political science professor Daniel Schlozman remarked that Republican fixation on criticizing universities as bastions of leftist ideology has resulted in them portraying the protests as examples of radicalism on race and gender issues and highlighting them as a way to divide the Democratic coalition. Jewish Currents editor described the movement as providing "cover for the right to expand its attack on protest" in reference to the "draconian" crackdown on protests, describing the "attacks on academic freedom and free speech on campus" as being led by the right wing". Republicans have used antisemitic tropes when denouncing protests as antisemitic, including allusions to conspiracies around George Soros, as well as invoking globalists.

On April 28, The New York Times commented that protests that have occurred outside the U.S. were "sporadic and smaller, and none [started] a wider student movement". The "partisan political context" was given as a reason for the intensity of protests in the U.S. Columbia's status as an Ivy League school, its proximity to New York City and national news media, and its large population of Jewish students were described as fueling increased media attention and political scrutiny that helped spread the protests.

On May 3, NPR called the protests abroad "a growing global student movement", with student protests in the United Kingdom focusing on "an increasingly high-profile nationwide campaign to end British arms exports to Israel". According to NBC News, the protests abroad, inspired by protests in the U.S., did not have the intensity of protests in the U.S. By May 7, protests had escalated in Europe after mass arrests at the University of Amsterdam, with occupations of campus buildings in Germany, France, and Belgium, and encampments on several European campuses. The Associated Press described protests at Sciences Po in Paris as "echoing similar encampments and solidarity demonstrations across the United States". By May 9, protests at Asian universities were widespread, including in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Japan, and South Korea.

Media coverage of the protests has been criticized as sensationalized and failing to focus on the protesters' demands and grievances. Dana Bash was criticized for likening college protests to the rise of antisemitism in the 1930s in Europe. The lack of student protesters' voices in most national media coverage has also been criticized. Student reporters, in particular, have been praised for their work covering the protests.

Antisemitism allegations

Several protests have been criticized for alleged antisemitism. Some Jewish students have said the protests created a climate of fear and hate on campus. According The Jewish Post, a survey by Hillel of Jewish students at universities with encampments found that the majority of them felt unsafe due to encampments. 72% of respondents wanted them dismantled and 61% considered language used at the protests antisemitic.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has argued that language calling for the exclusion of "Zionists" and targeting of Israel have made protests antisemitic. Some antisemitic incidents have also been recorded around protests and on campus: Jewish students were targeted for their faith, for wearing Jewish symbols, or were accused of being Zionists and subsequently targeted. In one instance, a protester made a Nazi salute toward a Jewish student and punched them in the face. Additionally, protesters were heard chanting antisemitic slogans, including "go back to Poland." Another protester was seen holding a pro-Hamas sign aimed at Jewish students, bearing the message "Al-Qassam's next targets."

Pro-Israeli groups have alleged antisemitism due to usage of the word "intifada" in various slogans, as well as the phrase "From the river to the sea" during the protests. Pro-Israeli groups consider many of these slogans a call for terrorism, though others disagree. There have also been claims that other anti-Zionist slogans used in the protest are also inherently antisemitic. ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt has argued that "anti-Zionism is antisemitism".

Some Jewish students have argued against conflating antisemitism with anti-Zionism, saying the charge is used to chill debate. Pro-Palestinian and Jewish student protesters have asserted that the protests are not antisemitic, and that such claims are a weaponization of antisemitism. The Guardian noted that incidents of antisemitism appear to be "relatively isolated" and more likely to occur when non-students were in a parallel protest, and pro-Palestinian student groups at the protests have been quick to condemn inflammatory remarks. Nadia Abu El-Haj has argued that "rhetoric of safety" was used to "crack down" on pro-Palestinian students. Some pro-Palestinian Jewish students have said they have faced antisemitism from pro-Israel activists. In a letter endorsed by 540 Jewish Columbia students, they asserted that "Zionism remains a pillar of our Jewish identities" and contended that "Judaism cannot be separated from Israel." They further criticized anti-Zionist Jews who deny Israel's right to exist and align with pro-Palestinian demonstrators, accusing them of "tokenizing themselves" and seeking to undermine the experiences of Zionist Jews on campus.

In response to reports of antisemitic incidents, The White House issued a statement condemning the situation, asserting, "While every American has the right to peaceful protest, calls for violence and physical intimidation targeting Jewish students and the Jewish community are blatantly antisemitic, unconscionable, and dangerous, and echoing the rhetoric of terrorist organizations, especially in the wake of the worst massacre committed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, is despicable." Additionally, in a statement commemorating Passover, US President Joe Biden denounced the recent incidents, emphasizing, "Even in recent days, we've seen harassment and calls for violence against Jews. This blatant antisemitism is reprehensible and dangerous - and it has absolutely no place on college campuses, or anywhere in our country." Additionally, Eric Adams, Mayor of New York City, stated he was "horrified and disgusted with the antisemitism being spewed at and around the Columbia University Campus."

Controversies

One study by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project found 97% of protests were nonviolent and nearly half of those that became violent involved protesters fighting with law enforcement during police interventions.

According to officials at Vanderbilt University, a security guard was injured when protesters broke into an administrative building, resulting in the expulsion of the three students leading the charge; video footage showed students forcibly entering the building and grappling with a staff member. The students denied using violence, calling their protest peaceful.

Violence and incitement against Jews

At Syracuse University, a pro-Palestinian protester did a Nazi salute toward a Jewish student, said "Heil Hitler", and punched the student in the face. According to the university, the protester was not a student. In the vicinity of Columbia University, protesters were heard chanting antisemitic slogans, including "go back to Poland." One protester was observed holding a pro-Hamas sign directed at Jewish students, which stated: "Al-Qassam's next targets."

Damage to property

At Portland University, protesters damaged computers and furniture during their occupation of the campus library. At Columbia University, protesters shattered windows during their occupation of a campus building.

Police and city workers destroyed students' tents, flags and other encampment supplies while disbanding the encampment at the University of Pennsylvania.

Removal of American flags

The campus protests have incited controversy regarding the hoisting of Palestinian flags on university campuses throughout the United States. This issue garnered attention subsequent to instances where students substituted American flags with Palestinian ones at multiple universities. At Harvard Yard, pro-Palestinian student demonstrators affixed three Palestinian flags atop the John Harvard statue on April 27. The replacement of American flags sparked outrage from some officials, such as New York Mayor Eric Adams. In response, university administrations and law enforcement agencies have intervened to dismantle the Palestinian flags and reinstate the American flags to their original positions.

Violence against protesters

The police response to the student protesters was called disproportionate and violent, including by the United Nations. Police departments employed a range of tactics, including dispersing crowds using horses and police in riot gear, deploying pepper balls, using tasers, mass arrests, clearing unauthorized encampments, and beating both students and professors. According to The Lantern, rooftop snipers were deployed at Ohio State University. Police "assaulted, arrested and barred access" for some journalists and teargassed others while they were covering the protests. Students and student journalists also faced violence at the hands of counter-protesters. One protester at Columbia was arrested and hospitalized after a counter-protester rammed his car into a group of picketers. Counter-protesters at the University of Pennsylvania approached the encampment with knives, and in a separate incident sprayed a chemical mixture on protesters' tents, food and belongings.

A report by Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project found that police interventions at U.S. student protests linked to conflict issues surged fourfold in April. Authorities notably increased arrests and forcible dispersals, especially at protests where there were counter-demonstrators. Nonetheless, at events where student protesters were unchallenged, the police were more likely to act against pro-Palestine rallies, doing so over four times more often than against pro-Israel ones. The report also found that 99% of student protests since October have remained peaceful.

Pro-Israeli attack at UCLA

Further information: 2024 University of California, Los Angeles pro-Palestinian campus occupation § Counter-protester attack

At the UCLA campus in Los Angeles on April 30, 2024, a pro-Israel group supported by several far-right activists, attacked the pro-Palestinian encampment, attempting to breach the barricades surrounding the encampment. The attackers, reported to have come from outside of campus, carried Israeli flags and assaulted students with sticks, stones, poles, metal fencing, and pepper spray. They played loud audio of a child crying, threw wood and a metal barrier into the camp, and shot fireworks into the encampment. The counter-protesters called for a "Second Nakba", referring to the displacement of Palestinians in 1948.

Fifteen people were reported injured, including one who was hospitalized. Student journalists for the Daily Bruin described being targeted by the counter-protesters and were punched, kicked, and beaten. Witnesses said the LAPD looked on for nearly four hours of attacks by the pro-Israel counter-demonstrators before intervening.

Responses

United States

Further information: Israel–Hamas war protests in the United States § Responses

See also: List of pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses in the United States in 2024

Faculty and staff

Rebecca Karl, a professor at NYU, stated that historically, "there have been a number of confrontations that have been dealt with by universities in ways that stress that we are not a violent institution... I'm personally very concerned". Wadie Said, a professor at the University of Colorado, stated, "The First Amendment is the hallmark of freedom.. You see that being curtailed based on viewpoint discrimination, which is something not supposed to be allowed under the First Amendment". Jeremi Suri, a UT Austin professor, stated, "I witnessed the police – the state police, the campus police, the city police – an army of police... stormed into the student crowd and started arresting students".

Jody Armour, a professor at USC, stated, "We need to stop allowing people to weaponise anti-Semitism against real, valid protests." In reference to protesters, John McWhorter, a Columbia professor, said, "I find it very hard to imagine that they are antisemitic", adding that there is "a fine line between questioning Israel's right to exist and questioning Jewish people's right to exist" but that "some of the rhetoric amid the protests crosses it." Randall Kuhn, a UCLA professor, stated, "I find it repugnant to sit by while Palestinian professors are being killed, while academic buildings are being bombed relentlessly."

Organizations

The Council on American-Islamic Relations executive director Afaf Nasher criticized the use of police force to break up the protests, stating it undermined academic freedom. Civil rights advocates such as the American Civil Liberties Union have raised free speech concerns over the mass arrests that were seen during the protests. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, described some of the responses from law enforcement as "disproportionate in their impacts" and was "troubled" by how they were being dealt with. The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated that while "hate speech is unacceptable," it is "essential in all circumstances to guarantee the freedom of expression and the freedom of peaceful demonstration." Farida Shaheed, the U.N. special rapporteur on the right to education, said the increase in attacks on student protests represented "a concerning erosion of intellectual freedom and democratic principles within educational settings". Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now, called the "violent dismantling of pro-Palestine encampments and arrests of student protesters a dangerous assault on our democracy".

Several labor unions that previously supported a ceasefire in the Israel–Hamas war have expressed support for the protests, including the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). The SEIU said it "proudly stands in solidarity with the students, faculty and staff exercising their right to speak up". In contrast, Jonathan Greenblatt of the ADL said that protesters concealing their identities were dressed like "bank robbers" and had the effect of "intimidating their opponents, of menacing the other side." He also accused pro-Palestinian groups, including Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine, of being "Iranian proxies".

A coalition of over 200 organizations published an open letter expressing support for the protests. Signatories include:

• 350.org
• Al-Haq
• Alliance of Baptists
• American Baptist Churches USA
• American Friends Service Committee
• American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
• Arab American Institute
• Beyt Tikkun
• Center for Constitutional Rights
• Council on American-Islamic Relations
• Dream Defenders
• Fight for the Future
• Future Coalition
• Gen-Z for Change
• Greenpeace USA
• Highlander Research and Education Center
• Hindus for Human Rights
• IfNotNow
• Indian American Muslim Council
• Poverty Project at the Institute for Policy Studies
• Islamic Society of North America
• Jews for Racial and Economic Justice
• Jewish Voice for Peace
• Just Foreign Policy
• Justice Democrats
• Mondoweiss
• Movement for Black Lives
• National Iranian American Council
• National Lawyers Guild
• North American Students of Cooperation
• Oakland Institute
• Our Revolution
• Palestine Legal
• Pax Christi USA
• Peace Action
• People’s Action
• Presbyterian Church (USA) Office of Public Witness
• Presbyterian Peace Fellowship
• Progressive Democrats of America
• Project South
• Public Accountability Initiative
• Rising Tide North America
• RootsAction Education Fund
• Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center
• Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth
• Starr King School for the Ministry
• Sunrise Movement
• Transnational Institute
• Unitarian Universalist Association
• Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
• US Campaign for Palestinian Rights
• Veterans For Peace
• Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press
• Working Families Party
• World Beyond War
• Young Democrats of America Black Caucus

Political

On April 22, President Joe Biden criticized and condemned the protests, calling them antisemitic and criticizing those who "don't understand what's going on with the Palestinians". Former President Donald Trump said that the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, was "peanuts" compared to the ongoing protests. Speaking at Columbia on April 24, House Speaker Mike Johnson said, "Congress will not be silent as Jewish students are expected to run for their lives and stay home from their classes hiding in fear." Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer condemned "lawlessness" during the protests at Columbia, calling it "unacceptable when Jewish students are targeted for being Jewish, when protests exhibit verbal abuse, systematic intimidation or glorification of the murderous and hateful Hamas or the violence of Oct. 7."

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis described the situation at Columbia and other campuses as "inmates run[ning] the asylum." Texas Governor Greg Abbott said that the protesters "belonged in jail" and continued to claim that the protests were "hate-filled, antisemitic protests" and that anyone engaging in them should be expelled. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro criticized colleges and universities that did not do enough to protect its students, which could lead to antisemitic incidents. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell called the protests "a dangerous situation" and said, "there's also antisemitism, which is completely unacceptable". He accused the "student radicals" of supporting Hamas. Multiple conservative politicians and commentators, including Mike Johnson, Ted Cruz, Ira Stoll, Isabel Vincent, and Kari Lake spread the antisemitic conspiracy theory that George Soros funded the protest movement.

After the mass arrests at UT on April 24, many voiced their disapproval over Abbott's handling of the decision and the police tactics. Texas Democrats claimed that Abbott's Department of Public Safety had "more courage to arrest peaceful student protesters than when an active shooter entered an elementary school in Uvalde." U.S. representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also criticized the deployment of police against the Columbia University protest, calling it an "escalatory, reckless, and dangerous act". Irvine, California Mayor Farrah Khan said: “I am asking our law enforcement to stand down. I will not tolerate any violations to our students' rights to peacefully assemble and protest."

The Fairfax County branch of the Democratic Party issued a statement denouncing the arrests of students at Virginia schools. Virginia representatives Rozia Henson, Joshua Cole, Adele McClure, Nadarius Clark, and Saddam Salim released a joint statement condemning the arrests of student protesters in Virginia. After visiting the encampment at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said: “The First Amendment comes from here. This is Philadelphia. We don't have to do stupid like they did at Columbia.” California representative Sara Jacobs wrote on X: "I'm deeply concerned that the response to peaceful protests at UCSD is to call in riot police. A militarized response further escalates the situation and doesn't help keep students safe."

Addressing students at the City University of New York on April 26, imprisoned Black political activist Mumia Abu-Jamal praised the protests, saying, "It is a wonderful thing that you have decided not to be silent and decided to speak out against the repression that you see with your own eyes", calling protesters "on the right side of history". College Democrats of America, the student wing of the Democratic Party, endorsed the protests and criticized Biden's response to them. Massachusetts State Representative Mike Connolly said: "I'm here really in solidarity with these protesters, and I'm hoping that the MIT administration will honor free speech and will honor the tradition of dissents in this country, in particular dissents to war, which is what really calls us here today."

On May 12, Trump said, "[Biden] is surrendering our college campuses to anarchists, jihadist freaks and anti-American extremists who are trying to tear down our American flag. ... If you come here from another country and try to bring jihadism or anti-Americanism or antisemitism to our campuses, we will immediately deport you. You'll be out of that school."

Legislation

On April 23, the California State Senate Judiciary Committee passed 2024 SB-1287 on a 10–0 vote, advancing it to the Senate Appropriations Committee. The bill would require the California State University system and California Community Colleges system to enact policies that would prohibit violence, harassment, intimidation, and discrimination if they are "intended to and reasonably understood by the victims or hearers" to either "interfere with the free exercise of rights under the First Amendment or Section 2 of Article I of the California Constitution" or to "call for or support genocide". The bill would also restrict the right to assemble on campuses with "reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions, including advance authorization provisions, for public protests and demonstrations at institutions." The bill has received support exclusively from Jewish and Zionist organizations. It is opposed by the ACLU and the University of California, Davis School of Law, which called the bill unconstitutional.

The "Antisemitism Awareness Act", spearheaded by the Republicans but also backed by many Democrats, passed the United States House of Representatives in a 320-91 vote on May 1, 2024, and proceeded to the Senate. The bill is intended to add the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's approved working definition of antisemitism to title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits "exclusion from participation in, denial of benefits of, and discrimination under federally assisted programs on ground of race, color, or national origin." Democratic Representative Sara Jacobs, who is Jewish, said she opposed the bill because "it fails to effectively address the very real rise of antisemitism, all while defunding colleges and universities across the country and punishing many, if not all, of the non-violent protestors speaking out against the Israeli military’s conduct."

The proposed legislation would broaden the legal definition of antisemitism to include Anti-Zionism, criticism of the policies of the state of Israel, and concerns about Palestinian human rights, by categorizing all of that as hate speech, and it has been criticized for conflating "Judaism with Zionism in assuming that all Jews are Zionists" and automatic citizens of Israel rather than the U.S., thereby severely undermining genuine safety for Jewish citizens. It faces strong opposition from several Democratic lawmakers, Jewish organizations, and free speech advocates, including more than 800 Jewish U.S. academics, who signed a letter calling on Biden not to sign the bill.

Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the centrist pro-Israel group J Street, said that his organization opposes the bill because it is an "unserious" effort led by Republicans "to continually force votes that divide the Democratic caucus on an issue that shouldn’t be turned into a political football."

The ACLU sees the bill as an attack on First Amendment rights and argues that its "overbroad" definition of antisemitism "could result in colleges and universities suppressing a wide variety of speech critical of Israel or in support of Palestinian rights in an effort to avoid investigations by the Department [of Education] and the potential loss of funding."

Organizations like the Anti-Defamation League and Conference of Presidents have praised the bill, and it is based on definitions by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance that have been criticized by 100 Israeli and international civil society organizations that wrote to the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres in 2023 urging the UN not to adopt the definitions.

Three Republican members of the U.S. House introduced a bill that would require anyone convicted of unlawful activity on a college campus to perform community service in Gaza for six months. The bill was widely derided as a political stunt and is exceedingly unlikely to pass.

Legislators in the Virginia House of Delegates and Virginia Senate formed select committees to investigate how state colleges responded to the protests after over 125 people were arrested in the state.

Lawsuits

On May 15, United Auto Workers (UAW)'s Harvard Graduate Student Union sued Harvard University, accusing it of surveillance and retaliation against workplace-related collective action, denying employees union representation in disciplinary hearings, and unfairly changing policies regarding access to campus to discourage protesters.

Strikes

On May 15, members of UAW 4811, the union representing 48,000 graduate students on 10 campuses in the University of California system, voted to authorize a strike because the university unfairly changed policies and discriminated against students who were exercising their right to free speech and created an unsafe work environment by allowing attacks on protesters. The authorization does not guarantee a strike, but allows the executive board to call one at any time.

Opinion polls

According to YouGov, 47% of Americans oppose the campus protests and 28% support them. American Muslims support the protests by 75% to 14% while Jewish Americans oppose them by 72% to 18%. Younger adults under 45 are more likely to support them than older adults. 33% believed the response to the protests was not harsh enough, 16% believed it was too harsh, and 20% believed the response was about right. 48% of Americans above 45 believed the response was not harsh enough, compared to only 16% under 45.

According to Axios, 8% of college students have participated in the protests. 34% blame Hamas, 19% blame Netanyahu, 12% blame the Israeli people, and 12% blame Biden for the destruction in Gaza. 81% of students supported holding protesters accountable for destroyed property and illegally occupied buildings, 67% claimed occupying campus buildings is unacceptable, 58% considered refusal to disperse unacceptable, and 90% opposed blocking pro-Israel students. Students were more likely to support the pro-Palestinian encampments, with 45% supporting them strongly or moderately, 30% neutral, and 24% strongly or mildly opposed. Among those who participated in anti-Israeli protests, 58% said they would not be friends with someone who had marched for Israel while 64% of students who marched in favor of Israel said they would still be friends with anti-Israeli protesters.

In a Data for Progress poll in collaboration with Zeteo released on May 8, 2024, 55% of Democrats, 36% of Republicans, and 46% of all likely voters said they disapprove of colleges limiting students' rights and ability to protest Israel's military operations, whereas 32% of Democrats, 49% of Republicans, and 40% of all likely voters approved of doing so.

Other countries

Further information: Israel–Hamas war protests § Responses

See also: 2024 pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses in the Netherlands § Response

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the protests were "horrific" and antisemitic and must be quelled. Jewish U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders responded vehemently, accusing Netanyahu of distracting the American people from the Israel–Hamas war and expressing support for the protests. Many Israeli academics and civilians, alongside columnists in Israeli media such as The Jerusalem Post and Haaretz, expressed disdain for the protests, with one describing the general reaction as "seeing them as an attack on the country and not just its government".

After being invited to visit the Columbia protest, Palestinian photojournalist Motaz Azaiza said his experience was great, that he appreciated students wanting to know more and educate themselves, and that it was an honor to raise awareness about the Gaza Strip. Bisan Owda said the protests made the Gazan populace feel "heard". Displaced people in Gaza expressed gratitude to the student protesters, holding signs such as "Thank you, American universities".

In response to the protests at Columbia, the spokesperson for India's Ministry of External Affairs said, "In every democracy, there has to be the right balance between freedom of expression, sense of responsibility and public safety and order... After all, we are all judged by what we do at home and not what we say abroad." Chinese state media expressed support for the protests: the People's Daily wrote that American students are protesting because they "can no longer stand the double standards of the United States" and former editor-in-chief of the Global Times Hu Xijin said that the protests show that "Jewish political and business alliance's control over American public opinion has declined." In Iran, former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif criticized Saudi Arabia's and Jordan's reported consideration of normalizing relations with Israel, saying, "American student protesters being brutalised by US security forces have a much greater claim to protecting Palestinians than the Custodians of Holy Mosques". In Tunisia, the General Union of Students released a statement expressing "gratitude and admiration for the student movements at American universities, drawing inspiration from their remarkable history of war rejection, as witnessed during the Vietnam War".

The New York Times published an article that cited NewsGuard, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, and Recorded Future on how the media of Russia, China, and Iran have covered the events. It concluded that those countries have made overt and covert efforts to capitalize on the protests to denigrate democracy, inflame partisan tensions, criticize Biden ahead of the 2024 presidential election, support Trump, and express support for Hamas and Palestinians generally.

After the three-day occupation at Sciences Po in Paris, Prime Minister of France Gabriel Attal said he would "not tolerate the actions of a dangerously acting minority", calling the protests "an ideology coming from North America". The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa criticized the protesters' actions, saying, "universities are places where cultural engagement, even heated, even harsh, must be open 360 degrees, where engagement with strong ideas that are completely different, must be expressed not with violence, not with boycotts, but knowing how to engage".

Sana'a University in Yemen offered education to students suspended due to protests. Mohammad Moazzeni, the head of Shiraz University in Iran, has offered scholarships to U.S. students expelled for participating in pro-Palestinian protests. This offer, reported by Press TV, extends to students and professors affected by the demonstrations against Israel's actions in its conflict with Hamas. Moazzeni suggests that other universities in Shiraz and Fars Province may also be prepared to support these students. At the same time, the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs launched a program aimed at helping Jewish students who feel unsafe at U.S. universities continue their education at Israeli universities.

See also

• Accusations of United States complicity in Israeli war crimes in the Israel–Hamas war
• International reactions to the Israel–Hamas war
• Kent State shootings - Vietnam war protest; National Guard killed 4 students in 1970 at university in Ohio
• Occupy Wall Street, in 2011
• Student strike of 1970