Over the past week, a wave of pro-Palestine protests has swept across college campuses in the U.S., resulting in the arrest of hundreds of students and other demonstrators. The protesters are advocating for a halt in the conflict and have expanded their demands to include universities divesting from companies that profit from or are connected to Israel's actions in Gaza and the West Bank. This escalation in protests has caused disruptions at various institutions, with Columbia University moving classes online after more than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested.
The demonstrations continued to unfold at universities nationwide, with New York University, the University of Texas, the University of Southern California, Ohio State University, Emory University, among others, witnessing arrests of protesters calling for divestment from Israeli-related companies. Alongside the arrests, Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the protests, labeling them as anti-Semitic and alleging attacks on Jewish students and faculty. However, the protests have persisted, with Harvard University students launching an encampment in the university yard to pressure the institution to divest from Israeli interests.
In response to the growing unrest, student leaders like Mahmoud Khalil at Columbia University have demanded that their universities cease investing in companies linked to what they term as a "genocide" in Gaza. These divestment efforts are targeted at pressuring Israel symbolically to agree to a cease-fire. Protesters are focusing on companies indirectly benefiting from Israeli actions or those having ties to war efforts, such as Google and Alphabet-owned entities, as well as Boeing, Amazon, and Airbnb, due to their connections with Israel's operations in the West Bank. Despite these demands, no major U.S. university has publicly committed to divesting from such companies so far as protests and calls for action persist.