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US student protests over Gaza have changed the narrative

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has never been solely about Israel and Palestinians.

What has enabled the Zionist state, since its inception, to carry out the worst atrocities in modern history against Palestinians has been the unconditional support it received from the West, especially the US.

This support emanated from Western governments as well as the public, as the entire Western public has been fed half-truths and falsehoods on the Palestinian issue by Western media and government agencies which sought to portray Israelis as the victims rather than Palestinians.

But this is changing. If the current developments in Gaza have any positive effect, it’s a tectonic shift in Western perceptions and narrative about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the most encouraging sign of this shift is the student protests currently sweeping the US university campuses over Gaza war, which has shaken Israel and its Western supporters.

These protests are seminal in their impact because, finally, Americans are waking up to the ground reality in Palestine and the Israeli narrative, until now pushed by a complicit Western media and their governments, is finally getting torn to pieces.

At least 40 pro-Palestine protest camps have arisen across US campuses following Columbia University’s example earlier this month, and these protests are showing no signs of abating despite the use of brute force by the police to disperse them, and the mass arrests of faculty members and students, and retaliation from the universities with suspensions and dismissals.

The students are demanding ceasefire in Gaza and calling for universities to divest from companies that profit from Israel’s war, including Microsoft, Google and Amazon.

Protests have also spread to universities in Paris and Canada. Palestinians have clearly won the war for global public opinion.

The ethnic cleansing being carried out by Israel in Gaza and the massacre of thousands of children and women have shocked the Western public, especially American students, who are now able to see the heart-wrenching scenes, which helped galvanize the current action.

The surge in support for Palestinians in the US will lead to an erosion of support for Israeli crimes, which will ultimately force US leaders to take note and change their policy on Israel.

Israel is able to commit war crimes and violate international laws only because of the unstinting from the US and even a small dilution of this support would signal the end of the Israeli impunity, a scenario which the Jewish state dreads.

The student protests are the biggest sign that we are moving in that direction. Some experts are calling these protests the most significant student movement in the US since the anti-Vietnam campus protests of the late 1960s.

And this is no small achievement for the Palestinian cause. The protests have also exposed the double standards and highhandedness of the US authorities on the Palestinian issue.

The world watched in shock as state troopers, in riot gear, and counter-terrorism forces violently swooped on protesting students and teachers, making a mockery of free speech and democratic norms which the US so proudly preaches.

Despite the global protests, Israel remains undeterred. It has launched airstrikes on Rafah despite warnings from the US. But it will soon realise that its actions won’t go unpunished and days of infinite immunity are over.

Students in the US have helped achieve what other supporters of Palestine all over the world have failed to for decades.