Almost 200 progressive organizations voice solidarity with student protesters

Over 200 progressive organizations voiced solidarity with pro-Palestinian student protests in a recent statement.

“We commend the students who are exercising their right to protest peacefully despite an overwhelming atmosphere of pressure, intimidation and retaliation, to raise awareness about Israel’s assault on Gaza – with U.S. weapons and funding,” the statement, signed by groups including Justice Democrats and the Sunrise Movement, reads.

“These students have come forth with clear demands that their universities divest from corporations profiting from Israeli occupation, and demanding safe environments for Palestinians across their campuses,” the statement continues. “The students’ courage and determination in the face of adversity inspire us all to take action and speak out against injustice wherever it occurs. As they risk everything right now, it is critical that all of us do everything we can to support them.”

Protests focused on the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and Palestinian human rights have sprung up on college campuses across the nation in recent weeks, most notably at Columbia University. Demonstrators at the school took over a building on campus Tuesday, barricading entrances and flying a Palestinian flag outside a window of the university’s Hamilton Hall, according to The Associated Press.

“An autonomous group reclaimed Hind’s Hall, previously known as ‘Hamilton Hall,’ in honor of Hind Rajab, a Gazan martyr murdered at the hands of the genocidal Israeli state at the age of six years old,” CU Apartheid Divest, a coalition of pro-Palestinian student organizations, said in a statement posted Tuesday on the social platform X.

“This escalation represents the next generation of the 1968, 1985, and 1992 student movements which Columbia once repressed yet celebrates today,” the statement continues. “Protestors have voiced their intention to remain at Hind’s Hall until Columbia concedes to CUAD’s three demands: divestment, financial transparency, and amnesty.”

More than 1,000 people have been arrested on campuses as the end of the academic year approaches, according to the AP. Protests have also expanded outside of the U.S. to Canada, according to The Canadian Press, and Europe. However, some Jewish students have said that the protests have made them feel unsafe.

“Our communities have been horrified to see the militarized and violent response to students protesting an ongoing genocide funded and supported by our government. Our coalition of organizations join millions of our members across the country in standing in solidarity with the students’ efforts in support of the people of Gaza,” Yasmine Taeb, one of the organizers in the coalition and a political director at Muslim civil rights group MPower Change, said in a statement emailed to The Hill. 

“Instead of attacking young people mobilizing for Palestinian human rights, President Biden needs to listen to the majority of American voters who have been calling on him to stop funding and supporting the atrocities committed by Israel against the people of Gaza,” Taeb continued.

Updated 1:30 p.m. ET.