May first, 2024 the protests at Columbia & the Press

 How lamentable that the New York Times coverage of the Columbia protests has sought to malign a largely disciplined orderly & nonviolent demonstration & misrepresent what was said.

For instance, Representative Ilhan Omar’s visit to the campus -- where she expressed appreciation for the fact that so many protestors were Jewish & said it was important to keep all safe no matter their views--  has been twisted: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/29/us/politics/ilhan-omar-campus-protests.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

As Omar points out,  https://twitter.com/IlhanMN/status/1784444070620008778she has been misrepresented to sound as though she were attacking them.

The protestors & all who show any sympathy with them are it is suggested anti-Semitic.

See https://thewire.in/world/anti-semitism-palestinians-and-the-west-a-historical-background-of-the-current-bombing-of-gaza

Even the Guardian UK employed this technique to bring down Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Leader. One aspect of this strategy is for people to proclaim they feel “threatened.” The objective absence of threat is not the point; merely the claim that is the perception.

Yet by contrast, the harassment that Arabs, Muslims, supporters of Palestinian rights face in the United States is constant:

 https://theintercept.com/2024/04/24/umass-amherst-palestine-protests-harassment/

https://theintercept.com/2020/10/04/israel-palestine-blacklists-canary-mission/

https://www.thenation.com/article/world/canary-mission-israel-covert-operations/

https://time.com/6097712/muslim-american-surveillance-supreme-court-sept-11/

This extends to abuse by high elected office-bearers, & OF Muslim representatives, degrading thereby the democratic process: https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/islamophobic-remarks-members-congress-betray-american-values-n1287120

https://www.businessinsider.com/lauren-boebert-ripped-implied-ilhan-omar-islamophobia-video-2021-11

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/26/politics/lauren-boebert-ilhan-omar-anti-muslim-comments/index.html

There is however no doubt that behaviour such as this https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/26/nyregion/columbia-student-protest-zionism.html is entirely objectionable & does disservice to any worthwhile cause.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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