Pro-Palestinian demonstrations in American universities continue to escalate. Scholar: Biden is powerless | Lianhe Zaobao

Anti-Israeli war demonstrations have been escalating in many universities in the United States. In order to prevent a security crisis on campus, some Ivy League schools have tightened control measures, adopted online teaching or asked the police to arrest protesters.

Scholars interviewed said that the Biden administration is trying to strike a balance between supporting Israel’s policies and easing the wave of protests. However, if the situation worsens, it is not ruled out that Washington will take more measures to suppress the demonstrators, although this will have a negative impact on President Biden’s 11 The re-election campaign will have an impact.

In order to alleviate and suppress the anti-Semitic wave on campus, Columbia University on the East Coast announced on Monday (April 22) that it will switch to online classes; Yale University, MIT, New York University, and the University of Michigan have at least 47 Protesters were arrested for refusing to leave the camp. On the West Coast, at the University of California, Berkeley, hundreds of students began encamping in protest.

The pro-Palestinian protesters demanded that the school cut off economic ties with Israel and academic programs funded by Israeli businesses or donors. However, the school adopted a tougher attitude, requiring the police to enter the school to arrest demonstrators, restrict students’ activities to avoid crowd gatherings, and suspend pro-Palestinian activities.

The U.S. police began operations on the New York University campus on the evening of the 22nd and detained more than 130 demonstrators. The school said that many people outside the school joined the demonstration and broke through the fence set up by the school, so they decided to call the police. The police also arrested more than 100 people at a demonstration at Columbia University last Thursday (18th).

Columbia President Shafik said in an open letter to students on Monday: “There have been too many incidents of intimidation and harassment on campus over the past few days… Anti-Semitic language, as well as any other use to hurt and intimidate, “People’s language is unacceptable and we will take appropriate action.”

Scholar: Protests are unlikely to reverse U.S. policy toward Israel

Liu Yongtao, a professor at the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, analyzed in an interview with a reporter from Lianhe Zaobao that as early as the early days of the Israel-Kazakhstan conflict, sporadic protests broke out on American campuses, but they were eventually quelled. The trigger for the new round of demonstrations was the United States’ vote last Thursday (April 18) to reject Palestine’s decision to become a full member of the United Nations, and the House of Representatives’ approval last Saturday of US$13 billion (approximately S$17.7 billion) in military aid to Israel. related.

Liu Yongtao judged: “If the wave of protests continues to overflow, it is not ruled out that Washington will intervene to suppress it. Although this will cause Biden to lose the support of ethnic minorities and be very detrimental to his re-election campaign, the relationship between the United States and Israel is complicated. Even if the protests further escalate, It will also be difficult to reverse Washington’s current Israel policy.”

John Donaldson, associate professor of political science at the School of Social Sciences at Singapore Management University, also held the same view and bluntly said that Biden was “powerless” in the campus protests.

Du Qiang told Lianhe Zaobao: “On Israel policy, Biden is under pressure from the left and the right and cannot give up his support for Israel. Biden has already been criticized by moderates and others for criticizing (Israeli Prime Minister) Netanyahu. He can’t control Netanyahu even if people put pressure on him, so he can’t do anything.”

It is unclear whether this wave of protests will evolve into a student movement that spreads across the country, but Wang Yong, a professor at the School of International Relations at Peking University and director of the Center for American Studies, analyzed to Lianhe Zaobao that if the demonstrations worsen, they may eventually force the Biden administration to If the Biden administration takes control, it is not ruled out that bloodshed may occur, or even turn into a student protest movement against the government, which will greatly affect Biden’s election.

Liu Yongtao pointed out that we must continue to pay attention to whether this campus demonstration will spread on a large scale on the West Coast and become another trigger that divides American society. In addition, we must also pay attention to whether the wave of protests will spill over to European campuses and put pressure on European countries’ Middle East policies.

Du Qiang said that one of the current disputes is whether student demonstrations should be considered anti-Semitic, and that it is also difficult for college campuses to strike a balance between defending free speech and curbing hate speech. In addition, Biden faces the dilemma of not losing voters while continuing to support Israel. Neither balancing effort goes well.

Du Qiang said: “I expect Biden will give a speech to respond to this incident… One speech cannot solve the problem, but I think he needs to speak as soon as possible.”

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