New Haven, April 24 (RHC)-- Hundreds of student protesters have gathered at the Yale’s Beinecke Plaza in protest against an upcoming talk by the far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir at Shabtai, a Jewish society that is based near the university.
About 200 students attended the protest and set up eight tents at the plaza, according to the Yale Daily News. Videos on social media showed hundreds of students chanting, “We will not stop, we will not rest. Disclose, divest,” as they called on the university to oppose the war in Gaza. The crowds dispersed late on Tuesday evening with organizers promising to stage another protest later in the week.
Ben-Gvir, who advocates the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza, is scheduled to speak at Shabtai tonight. His visit to New Haven, where Yale is located, is his first trip to the U.S. since he became Israel’s national security minister.
The protests at Yale -- located in New Haven, Connecticut -- came a year after police there arrested nearly 50 students from the university who set up an encampment on campus, urging the institution to divest from any weapons manufacturing companies potentially supplying the Israeli military.
Patricia McGuire, the president of Trinity Washington University, is one of the signatories of that statement. She said she signed on to it “because it’s absolutely essential for every college president in America to confront the Trump administration about the actions they are taking, not only against Harvard, but against many institutions and also against all of our students.”
These include “the snatching of students off the street and sending them into detention, the abolishment of diversity, equity and inclusion programmes that support our Black and Hispanic students in particular.”
McGuire went on to describe Trump’s administration as “lawless.” “It’s a rich irony that the Trump administration accuses Harvard and others of violating the law, which is not true. There has been no proof that Harvard has violated any law,” she said.
“But meanwhile this administration is acting in the most lawless way possible, violating First Amendment rights, freedom of speech, violating the rights to due process for students and others who are detained without any opportunity to tell their side of the story, and by the way, threatening one of the most important forms of American productivity in the world. America exports more higher education products than just about anything else."
“American higher education has been the pride of this country, and the Trump administration is trying to destroy American higher education, and we must stand against that,” she said.
[ SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS and NEW AGENCIES ]
