The massive crackdown on "freedom" on American universities

In parallel with the ongoing student protests on American universities condemning Israeli crimes against Palestinians and supporting the residents of Gaza, the repressive actions of the American government and police against students have intensified and taken on a broader scope.

Donald Earl Collins, a professor at the University of Washington, has emphasized in his article discussing the brutal actions of the US government and police against pro-Palestinian students who are protesting on various universities in the country: Today, American universities are at the peak of oppression and oppression.

Collins added: Last spring, US university administrators and presidents forced law enforcement officials to arrest and charge their students, professors, and staff for allegedly calling for an end to Israel's genocide in the Gaza Strip and a halt to the illegal expansion of the occupation of Palestinian lands.

This is in a situation where many universities also refused to grant degrees to students who graduated from anti-Israeli courses and took steps to suspend, expel or threaten to expel students for allegedly participating in protests condemning Israeli crimes against Palestine in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli regime's attacks on the Gaza Strip and the genocide of Palestinians, as well as the Zionist regime's insistence on continuing unprecedented crimes against the Palestinians by blocking the routes of aid, medicine and food, which has caused famine in the region, are factors that have fueled a wave of student protests in Europe and the United States. The wave of protests began since the start of the Gaza war last October (2023).

In the past several months, students from different European countries and the United States have repeatedly stressed the urgency of a ceasefire and an end to the killing of Palestinians by holding protests. However, the continuation of the war has also led to the escalation of student protests, and police repression against protesting students, to the extent that, in many American universities, despite all the slogans of freedom of expression and freedom of speech or freedom of speech, many students have been arrested or deprived of the opportunity to study, and this process continues, and this has further demonstrated that the claim of freedom of expression and its recognition by the United States and other Western countries is a complete lie.

Indeed, the current situation shows that the issue of freedom is only allowed by Western rulers when it supports the policies of Washington and its allies, especially the Zionist regime. Otherwise, strict measures will be taken against the perpetrators.

Despite all this oppression, American and European students still demand an end to Israeli crimes against Palestinians living in Gaza, and protests are still taking place at various universities in the United States and Europe.

According to a report by the Hebrew newspaper Yediot Aharonot, this situation has led American and Canadian universities to sign contracts with Israeli defense companies or other defense companies whose members have been trained in the occupied territories (Israel), in order to suppress pro-Palestinian protests at these universities.

This Hebrew newspaper wrote: After Donald Trump emerged victorious in the US presidential election, he promised to fine educational institutions that, according to him, do not properly deal with those he called "crazy and Hamas supporters".

The truth is, this is not the first time that such repressive measures have been taken against students in the United States. In fact, despite all the deceptive slogans of the United States and its allies about respecting and respecting the right to freedom, in practice it has had a double standard. What is clear and obvious is that everything that is against the policies and wishes of the US government and the leaders of the Zionist regime is considered a red line and must be confronted.

Joseph Massad, a lecturer at Columbia University, writes in this regard: Universities and the liberal system and the laws that support them work best when academic freedom and freedom of expression do not lead to resistance to hegemony (the power to command and command). This means that when the defense of freedom conflicts with hegemony (the power to command and command) and becomes a threat to the dominant ideology, various repressive measures are taken both within the university and by external forces – whether private or public universities.

Despite the ongoing repression and intimidation of pro-Palestinian activists on American and European universities, from the perspective of consciences alive everywhere in the world, Israel's crimes cannot be ignored and hostile acts cannot extinguish the fire of anger of opponents of the Zionist regime in Israel.