(NewsReady.com) – In recent weeks, US college campuses have been plagued by protests in support of the Palestinians, some of which have escalated into intimidation of Jewish students and staff. Now it looks like a backlash is growing. One recent demonstration was opposed by a large pro-US crowd.
On April 29, a group of students and activists set up a tent camp on the New Brunswick campus of Rutgers University. The protesters had a list of 10 demands for college administrators, including that the university divest of any investments linked to Israel and terminate a partnership agreement with Tel Aviv University. On May 2, they reached an agreement with the college, which rejected those two specific demands but accepted the other eight, such as hiring an administrator with expertise in Arab and Palestinian issues. In return, the students had to dismantle their encampment, clear up all trash, and disperse by 4 p.m. that day.
As it turned out, the activists decided to combine the cleanup operation with a final protest, chanting anti-Semitic slogans like “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” This time, however, some opposition turned up. A group of counter-protesters gathered around an American flag and called “USA! USA!,” drowning out the demonstration. The Palestine supporters formed a human chain around the partly dismantled camp, but their opponents treated them to a performance of the US national anthem.
Jewish students at Rutgers have faced abuse and intimidation from the protesters. One told journalists that, at an April 2 town hall meeting, leftists chanted “one solution, intifada revolution”—a c clear anti-Semitic statement. The protest allegedly got so rowdy, it forced college officials to end the meeting early. Police had to escort administrators and Jewish students past the mob. Now the camp is gone, but the radical students are still there and so is the threat to Jewish people on campus.
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