Protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza have spread across cities and campuses around the world as accusations of genocide continue to mount. And while U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken works to negotiate a peaceful resolution, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to promise more violence, proclaiming that Israel will invade Rafah with or without a hostage deal.
Straight Arrow News contributor Dr. Rashad Richey says that Israel is not waging a war against Hamas — it is waging a genocide against Palestinian civilians, with the large majority of them women and children. Dr. Richey reminds viewers that U.S. protests are fundamentally anti-genocide, that those who organize these protests today will be the leaders of the world tomorrow, and that this movement comes from a positive belief that solutions better than indiscriminate violence must exist.
Okay, college protests happening all over the United States of America, college students are standing up for what? They’re standing up to protect human beings. They’re anti-war, yes, they are anti-war. They’re anti-genocide.
You got to look at the details, look at the facts. Palestinians are not at war with the government of Israel. The government of Israel says they are not at war with Palestinians. Well, you could have fooled me, because the people who were being killed [sic] 70% of Palestinians who were killed in Gaza are women and children, they have no weapons, they have no combat training, they are simply trying to survive, trying to wake up every day and figure out how to work and how to put bread on the table. That’s what they’re doing.
But instead, you have a policy that’s antithetical to common sense coming out of the United States of America. That’s why American college students are standing up. These student groups are both pro-Israel student groups and pro-Palestinian student groups, that gets lost in the narrative. They are showing us a better way, a new approach. You see, they give me hope, because they don’t think like the old guard, they’re not resolving conflict by way of this war. They believe in a better path forward.
And see, one day, they will not be denied. Even if you shut down their encampment, one day, they will not be denied. Even if you suspend them from school, one day, they will not be denied. You know why? Because those same students that you’re shutting down, those same students that are protesting in unison, saying, ‘Stop the war,’ those, like it or not, are the future leaders of this nation. They will not be denied.