米大学でパレスチナ連帯活動続く

【ニューヨークＡＦＰ＝時事】米国の一部大学で、イスラエルの攻撃にさらされているパレスチナ自治区ガザ地区への連帯を示す活動が続いている。（写真は、米ニューヨークのコロンビア大学で行われた親パレスチナ集会）
　ニューヨーク名門コロンビア大学では２３日、抗議活動の主催者が大学に対し、「パレスチナでのイスラエルによるアパルトヘイト（人種隔離政策）やジェノサイド（集団殺害）、占領から利益を上げている」企業への投資を引き揚げるよう要求。
　これに対し、同大のベン・チャン副学長（広報担当）は２２日、記者団に対し、「学生には抗議する権利があるが、学内を乱したり、嫌がらせや威嚇をしたりすることは許されない」と語った。「われわれはユダヤ人学生の懸念の声を受けて動いている」とする一方、大学当局は「誠意をもって」抗議参加者とも対話していると述べた。
　だが、抗議活動「ガザ連帯のキャンプ」に参加した学生らは、自分たちの活動が「反ユダヤ主義的」とされていることについて、パレスチナ人を支持しているのであり、そうした指摘は当たらないと否定。
　同大のバーナード・カレッジのユダヤ人学生、サラ・ボーラスさんは記者会見で、「大学当局も議員も学長もユダヤ人社会の代弁者役を続け、反シオニズム（ユダヤ人国家建設運動に反対する立場）と反ユダヤ主義を同一視している」と批判した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/04/24-16:34）

Student anger with university officials and law enforcement fueled worsening tensions on several US campuses Tuesday after days of pro-Palestinian protests that have triggered mass arrests and shut down classes.
Some of America's most prestigious universities have been rocked by protests in recent weeks as students and other agitators take over quads and disrupt campus activities, furious over the Israel-Hamas war and ensuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
At Columbia University in New York, the core of the spreading protests, organizers are calling for the university to divest from companies that profit from Israeli apartheid, genocide and occupation in Palestine.
Pro-Israel supporters and others worried about campus safety have pointed to anti-Semitic incidents and argue that campuses are encouraging intimidation and hate speech.
Students have the right to protest, but they are not allowed to disrupt campus life or harass and intimidate, Columbia's vice president of public affairs Ben Chang told reporters Monday.
We are acting on concerns we are hearing from our Jewish students, he said, adding that university officials were meeting in good faith with the demonstrators.
Protesters meanwhile -- including a number of Jewish students in the Gaza Solidarity Encampment -- say they've disavowed instances of anti-Semitism and are there to support Palestinians.
My college administration, my representatives in Congress and my own president have continually acted as spokespeople for the Jewish community, equating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, Jewish student Sarah Borus, from Columbia's Barnard College, said at a news conference held by Jewish and Palestinian students.
They silence us, suspend us, she added.
Protesting students also said they had been called slurs by a pro-Israel professor and that anti-Muslim incidents on campus were being ignored.
But another Jewish student at Columbia, Nick Baum, told CNN he has felt downright unsafe on campus in recent days, saying anti-Semitism there has reached a boiling point.
Professors have pushed back since Columbia President Minouche Shafik called in police last week to arrest students, with some announcing they would not enforce student suspensions.
While there is a long history of campus activism around Israel and the Palestinian cause, flaring tensions amid the war have attracted major media and political scrutiny.
Jewish students at Columbia University don't feel safe. It's become so dangerous that students were forced out of the classroom, Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said Tuesday.
Let's be clear: these are not peaceful protests, these are anti-Semitic mobs.
- NYU arrests -
Further downtown, 133 people were arrested at New York University (NYU) and released after being issued with court summons, the New York Police Department told AFP, as protests also intensify at other colleges.
An NYU spokesman said the decision to call police to the campus came after additional demonstrators, many of whom were not thought to be affiliated with the university, breached the barriers erected around the protest encampment.
This dramatically changed the situation, the spokesman said in a statement on the school's website Monday, citing disorderly, disruptive and antagonizing behavior along with intimidated chants and several anti-Semitic incidents.
On the West Coast, California State Polytechnic University announced it would be closed until at least Wednesday after pro-Palestinian demonstrators occupied an administrative building.
The protests have also drawn the attention of President Joe Biden and his administration.
Anti-Semitic hate on college campuses is unacceptable, US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona posted on X on Tuesday, expressing concern about the unrest.
That afternoon, hundreds of NYU students and faculty staged a walkout.
There have also been demonstrations at MIT, the University of Michigan, UC Berkeley and Yale, where at least 47 people were arrested Monday after refusing requests to disperse.