Campus Protests: Rising Awareness About Palestine Signals ‘Point of No Return’, Prof. Says

IQNA – The Israeli war on Gaza has raised awareness about Palestine and this is evident in recent campus protests across the United States, an Iranian professor says.

More than 200 days into the Gaza war, a notable shift in awareness is emerging, especially among the educated in the West, Professor Ahmad Hossein Sharifi, President of Qom University, told IQNA.

The stark resistance to any anti-Zionist sentiment in the Western world suggests an attempt to extinguish dissent, but the enduring slogans and unfolding events signal a “point of no return,” he added.

The remarks come as hundreds of people have been arrested during police raids on campus encampment protests across the US in recent weeks. The movement, which began in Columbia University, has spread to tens of other universities.

Student-led protests demand an immediate divestment from Israeli-linked companies that profit from the war. They are also asking for an immediate end to the US support for the Israeli occupation as well as a ceasefire in Gaza where more than 34,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israeli strikes since October last year.

“For nearly two centuries, the Western world, particularly the United States, has championed the principles of free speech, press freedom, and human rights and these ideals have been widely promoted through media channels, aiming to embed the virtues of liberal democracy into the collective consciousness,” Sharifi said, adding “Yet, the recent clashes between Gaza's residents and Israel, marked by distressing Zionists’ actions against Gazans, have sparked a global reawakening, challenging these very principles.”

The recent police incursions into university campuses are a cause for alarm, he said, stressing the need to condemn the police actions.

Universities are “bastions of thought,” highlighted the professor, noting that “One cannot this environment with boots and dictatorship.”

This situation lays bare the realities of liberal democracy, where human rights and freedoms are often overshadowed by strategic interests, he added.

Elsewhere in the conversation, Sharifi lamented the inaction of some Muslim states with regard to Palestine. Inaction is prevalent among rulers of some Islamic nations, with little expectation for change, as they lack both influence and domestic popularity, he said, noting that despite this, over 90% of the Muslim world's public opinion supports the defense of Palestine, with many taking steps in solidarity.

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