Despite the arrests of over 1,000 students protesting Israel’s vicious war in Gaza, occupations and demonstrations on college campuses across the U.S have continued to grow.  Students, calling for a ceasefire in Israel’s air and ground assault in Gaza that has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, are also demanding universities divest their holdings in companies supplying weapons to Israel.

Many university administrators have responded to the overwhelmingly peaceful protests at dozens of campuses across the country, with attempts to suppress students’ right of free speech with suspensions and police raids resulting in mass arrests — and in some cases a show of armed force — such as occurred at Ohio State University and Indiana University, where snipers were deployed on campus rooftops.

While protesting anti-war students hold a wide a range of views on Israel and include many Jewish students active in groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace, antisemitic signs and chants are rare — and usually not associated with students. But many politicians and pro-Israel activists have broadly denounced the students and their message as both antisemitic and pro-Hamas.  While this is clearly false, that charge has been used by some college administrators and state governments to brutally crackdown on students for merely expressing normal human empathy with Palestinians in Gaza. Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Arun Kundnani, author of “The End of Tolerance,” who examines how the weaponizing of antisemitism has fueled dishonest attacks and repression of students protesting Israel’s vicious war in Gaza.

For more information, visit Arun Kundnani’s website at www.kundnani.org. Follow him on Twitter/X at @ArunKundnani.

Listen to Scott Harris’ in-depth interview with Arun Kundnani (32:12). More articles and opinion pieces are found in the Related Links section of this page.

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