David Robie also blogs at Café Pacific
From Asia Pacific Report:
Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians as similar student and academic protests spread across the United States — and faced crackdowns by police.
The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of infrastructure haunted Gaza with Israel’s war on the besieged Palestinian coastal enclave passing the 200 days milestone.
Nearly 85 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced and more than 14,500 children killed in the attack, which critics have dubbed a war of vengeance.
- READ MORE: In numbers: 200 days of Israel’s war on Gaza
- University students in Cairo, Sydney launch protests for Gaza amid crackdown in US
- Other war on Gaza reports
In Sydney, according to the university’s student newspaper, Honi Soit, the camp was established on the campus when tents were pitched “emblazoned with graffiti reading ‘Free Palestine’ and ‘from the river to the sea’”.
Students form several Australian universities were in attendance for the launch of the encampment, which was inaugurated with a student activist “speak out” on the subject of the war on Gaza and the demand for USyd management to drop any ties to the state of Israel.
According to the student newspaper: “Many chants that were used on US campuses in the past week were repeated at the encampment tonight like “disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest” followed by “Albanese/Sydney Uni you will see, Palestine will be free”.
Making our message clear!
We won’t let our university get away with being complicit with the weapons companies that arm the genocide in Gaza.#gazacampusyd #FreePalestine #FreeGaza #fromtherivertothesea pic.twitter.com/LHOqFsRg1B
— USyd SFP | Join the Gaza Solidarity Camp! (@SFP_USyd) April 24, 2024
Pro-Palestinian protests have been gaining momentum at colleges and universities across the United States with street protests also outside campuses as police have cracked down on the demonstrators and administrators have faced calls to resign.
Students at New York University, Columbia, Harvard and Yale are among those standing in solidarity with Palestinians and demanding an end to the war on Gaza.
Tensions flare at US universities over Gaza protests.
Tensions between pro-Palestinian student protesters and school administrators flared at several US universities Monday, as in-person classes were cancelled and demonstrators arrestedhttps://t.co/ByWzL8ZWhN pic.twitter.com/W5I08JqoBg
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) April 23, 2024
Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey, reporting from New York, said student demonstrators from New York University (NYU) gathered for hours in a park just off the campus to protest against the genocide.
The protest moved to the park following the mass arrest of 133 students and academic staff who had participated in a protest on the NYU campus the night before.
“As news spread of their arrests, so have demonstrations around the country — at other colleges and universities,” Saloomey said.
Columbia announced that it was introducing online classes for the the rest of the year to cope with the protests.
Watch Saloomey’s AJ report:
Columbia protests: Chants of ‘Azaadi’. Video: Al Jazeera
The Al Jazeera Explainers team have put together a comprehensive report detailing the numbers that highlight the unprecedented level of violence unleashed by Israel on Gaza in the 200 days of war.
Dr Robe – Is this the same Sydney University that locked visiting academics from Israel in a room with about 12 pro – Palestine protesters for 90 minutes…and stated it was a “mistake”…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tv1TLZIoRCk&ab_channel=SkyNewsAustralia
Why would anyone be concerned about terrorists who have committed war crimes being locked up?
On the other hand, it’s disgusting that the human rights advocates were locked in with the zionists, given they might have wanted to leave.
Mohammed Khan – Committed war crimes = Hamas…they are not human rights advocates, they are human rights abusers.
So now Nathans equating protesters who are protesting against Israels war crimes and mass slaughter of Civilians as being terrorists …
Chalk that up to yet another lie in Nathans long long list of telling them ,,,, and another example of his ‘just making shit up’ modus operandi ,,, both of which he has built himself a very well deserved reputation for.
He must almost be at the stage where only gaby finds him credible ,,,, and maybe his mum……
… but I’m being a bit harsh ,,, with Ada and co in the zionist ‘liars club’ ,,, he probably has a few grubby co-offenders who vouch for his BS ,,, but I doubt they think there’s much truth in Nathans or their own claims ,,
,,, they probably all think they are telling or repeating lies ‘for the greater good’ of Israel/zionism.
Israel Uber Alles is the playbook ….
B Awakesky – Who is holding the hostages? Come on, answer the question
Who is holding the most hostages (prisoners)? You can never achieve peace if you refuse to admit what is causing the problem.
Nathan is a dumb lazy simplistic liar which I will prove,,, this is relevant as the truth means nothing to Nathan,,,, but he can still be used as a tool by which to educate other people,,, about how sick and bad zionisim really is ,,,,,
*********************
Regarding Nathans Hostage hypocrisy,, Bonnie partially showed Nathan up over this ,,, and the numbers don’t lie ,,,”In April 2022, there were 4,450 Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli prisons – including 160 children, 32 women, and over 1,000 “administrative detainees” (indefinitely incarcerated without charge).”
***************
Hamas took hostages to swap ,,, they never wanted to keep them. ,,, so what were they wanting to exchange the Israeli hostages for Nathan???. ….
Don’t bother answering as god knows what rubbish you’ll squak out like a zionist parrot….
… But.for those interested in their motivation for their hostage taking,, they have already shown us ….”The extent of the issue was made clear during the seven-day ceasefire between Nov. 24 to Nov. 30 which saw 105 hostages held by Hamas—both Israelis and foreign nationals—released in exchange for 240 Palestinian women and children.”…
Israel on the other hand is much more interested in ethnic cleansing Gaza than negotiating further hostage swaps ,,, they prefer ethnic cleansing Palestinians than giving them equal rights ,,, there is no negotiation that Israel would accept to stop them being violent land and home thieves,, in their ILLEGALY occupied territory.
**********************
“Since 1967, Israel has operated two separate legal systems in the same territory. In the (illegally) occupied West Bank, (illegal) ,Israeli settlers are subject to the civilian and criminal legal system whereas Palestinians live under military law” …..
“Israel has the dubious distinction of being the only country in the world that automatically and systematically prosecutes children in military courts that lack fundamental fair trial rights and protections.
Israel prosecutes between 500 and 700 Palestinian children in military courts each year.”
Israel goes even worse than it’s hostile military kangaroo courts ,,, They also lock em up without even laying charges or having a trial ,,, Administrative detention
Administrative detention” is a form of imprisonment without charge or trial. Children held under administrative detention orders are never presented with charges,,,,,
“participating in a political gathering of 10 or more people without a permit from the Israeli military can lead to 10-years imprisonment.” ,,, only democracy in thee middle east eh ??
A lot of incarcerated Palestinians are obviously hostage to Israeli abuse of power and perversion of justice …. 1000 are in ‘Administrative detention’ ,,,
But it gets even worse for the Palestinians under the Israel Ubermensch ,,,,
While Palestinians can be locked up for years with no charges at all,, when it comes to the illegal and often extremist land stealing settlers we find that ,,,” (Israeli) Police investigations into violence committed by Israelis against Palestinians in the West Bank shows that from 2005 to September 2023, some 94% of investigations it ( a Jewish investigatory group) was able to review were closed without an indictment, and just three percent ended in a conviction. ,,,,
Haaretz which is an Israeli news source reports that…
“Charges are pressed only in 4% of settler violence cases… When cases pertain to violence against Palestinians, investigators often ignore evidence, fail to question witnesses, or simply close case”
‘Attacks by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank against members of the Palestinian population and their property are an extensive, long-term, and worsening phenomenon.”
…. and now they have gone berserk ( they are doing do what blood-lusts gaby snarls for ) and its pogrom time from the zionist … “In the West Bank, Israeli forces in 2023 killed 492 Palestinians, including 120 children,”
Some ignorant or dishonest zionist clown (was it you Nathan ? ) was taking the piss and having a wank pretending Israeli soldiers protect Palestinians ,,, but the main brigade in the west bank were extremists themselves ( and very liked by the hard core settlers) as they liked abusing and shooting Palestinians too ,,, they were so bad that even war daddy Usa ended up sanctioned them ,,, which upset Bibi’s genocidal govt … “Netanyahu vows to fight US sanctions on IDF unit accused of violations in West Bank.”
It should be obvious to everyone except Nathan and his dirty little club that Hama’s treats it’s hostages a lot more humanely and safely than the violent corrupt perverters of justice Zionist do ,,,
………………………
Now thiis post from me is long enough and Nathan will squak some other non-sense like the zionist parrot he is ,,,, and there’s no point in arguing with a parrot …
but if he wants to engage further my next post will demonstrate how he’s a dumb lazy and deliberate liar.
Finally For others who may want to learn more about the real history of Gaza and Israel ,,,, this multi person interview of authors to the book ‘Deluge: Gaza and Israel from Crisis to Cataclysm, is very good’
https://youtu.be/lGxKiOxg9a8?list=LL&t=1943
It has been a long road of lies and deceit to Israels present mass murder collective punishment war crimes they are doing ,,, and their turbo charged atrocity propaganda to try and justify it is so blatant and obvious that both it and Israels image /reputation … are well and truly in the shitter…. The mask is off.
Zioniists are like the Manbla Pedo’s group/association ,,, with the zionists actually being worse….
… they both believe they are morally right to fuck other peoples children ,,,,, but zionists do it like jack the ripper.
Sick and sicker …..
‘
answered this ,,, ” but it’s much worse than just the numbers ,,, not that it will make much difference to him as he’s like a zionist parrot who will squak out the same lines regardlessAttacks by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank against members of the Palestinian population and their property are an extensive, long-term, and worsening phenomenon. .
B Awakesky – Still name calling, and trying to cover the holes in your arguments with information dumps…ho hum.
Well I did write the truth ( information ) means nothing to Nathan ,,,, none of which he’s refuted…. eh Nathan
My next post to Nathan will show that it’s a accurate description to call him a dumb, lazy deliberate liar ,,, so not name calling at all.
B Awakesky – you, and the truth do not know each other
What you will find if you ask Nathan if he is a Zionist, he will refuse to answer.
What this tells me that at some level Nathan knows Zionism is a bad thing
Nathan has previously answered your persistent question Pat. In the negative I believe so please stop your false accusations.
Absolute nonsense. Unlike the ‘israeli’ ‘defence’ forces, there is no evidence that the Palestinian Military of Hamas has ever committed any war crimes.
Mohammed Khan – and yet, the 7th Oct attack was deemed a war crime.
Soon to be millions, many thousands of students world wide, “…are all Palestinians.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPiMwfjdiFU
Despite harsh repression, for the first time in their lives as they begin to feel their power, the students will not quit. At Princeton University it has been reported that professors have joined the protests and are holding classes.
https://abc11.com/college-protests-live-updates-more-encampments-pop-up-at-princeton-northwestern-emerson/14733832/
When faced with a people that refuse to submit, society has two choices negotiate or resort to massacre.
In 1968 at Kent State University even massacre did not work.
If the students don’t back down, I am certain that the students will get the universities to allow their protests, which will make them even bigger. Then not only will the university governors have to listen to their students demands to quit divestment from the industries that support the genocide, faced with open revolt in the universities the Biden administration will have to change course.
The only other course for the US to continue supporting the war in Gaza is resort to open fascism, probably a step too far a Biden administration, but probably not a step too far for a Trump administration.
Repression, or negotiation?
One way or another Biden knows he must end these demonstrations.
Biden needs to end supply of arms to Israel, look at the images he refuses to of the destruction and slaughter in Gaza and turn the tap off to Israel completely. If he doesn’t, he will lose the election to Trump because the population that would carry him over the line will be too inflamed to vote for him.
When I was at University (2) there was always a group looking for something to protest about,they felt obliged to do so.
From your comment I presume that even if they were slaughtering Palestinian children in front of you you would be Bob the last to protest.