Protests against the Israel-Hamas war have flared up at universities across the United States and around the world. Some universities resorted to calling the police to break up larger protests, leading to mass arrests at places like the University of Southern California and the use of tear gas in Florida, among others. At the University of California, Los Angeles, the university called authorities after fistfights broke out in an open field between pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian camps.
Straight Arrow News contributor Jordan Reid contends that while advocating for change is important, the extreme stances taken by some individuals on both sides of this conflict are counterproductive to the goal of peace — and will benefit only Donald Trump.
Supporters of the pro-Palestine efforts say that the crackdown among student protesters at universities speaks to just how out of touch these elite institutions are with their students. They hold that civil disobedience is a crucial element of collegiate-aged growth, which, fair, and that, frankly, there is nothing more worthy of protest than the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent civilians.
Detractors — and there are many — say that the students are elevating an incomplete image of the situation. And, yes, probably. We’re talking about 3,000 years of intensely complex conflict and the increasing [sic] anti-Zionism coloring these protests is deeply, deeply concerning. It’s not as simple as “from the river to the sea,” when what you’re talking about is the virtual eradication of a place that, yes, has a deeply complicated history, but is also the refuge for a people who have been persecuted virtually throughout their history.
There’s also the issue of just how much these protests will end up benefiting Donald Trump, because they will. The Right is definitely going to lean into the “Biden can’t control the country, there’s chaos everywhere, the elites are rioting” — whatever — he’ll do that narrative.