A growing number of students in the United States are calling on their universities to end investments and partnerships with weapons manufacturers they say are profiting from Israel’s war in Gaza.
At Cornell University in New York, just under 70 percent of students who voted in a recent referendum said the university should divest from companies supporting the ongoing war in Gaza. The question specifically named several companies including BAE Systems, Boeing, Elbit Systems and Lockheed Martin.
In a related development, students in Australia, participating in a Gaza solidarity encampment at the University of Melbourne issued the same statement. They have called out their university to cut ties with companies including BAE Systems, Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
In the US, the officials at Columbia University, New York are facing mounting criticism from all sides over their handling of student demonstrations against Israel’s war on Gaza.
Speaker of the US House of Representatives Mike Johnson visited the campus and called on the university’s president to resign.
Protesters told Al Jazeera how they feared repercussions for taking part in the peaceful demonstrations.
With mounting students protest in the US universities, the Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, has warned that the National Guard could be deployed to quell student protests at US universities.
He stated this during a visit to New York’s Columbia University to show support for Jewish students. Johnson described the antiwar protesters as “lawless radicals and agitators” who had taken over the campus.
He therefore, called for the resignation of Columbia President, Minouche Shafik.
“If this is not contained quickly and if these threats and intimidation are not stopped, there is an appropriate time for the National Guard,” Johnson said during a speech, which was drowned out by heckling students and chants of “Mike, you suck!”
“He definitely shouldn’t have come here. We don’t want some people that really don’t know what’s happening and then come here to intervene,” Columbia student Grace Dai told the Reuters news agency.
“What makes us scared or threatened is that the president had to bring the NYPD to our campus. And people like him say he’s bringing the National Guard to our campus. We don’t need that. That is the thing that makes us feel scared and threatened,” Dai said.
Al Jazeera
