Anti-Zionist protesters at University of Michigan Plan to Raise Hell Throughout 2024
Jose Nino
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North of 100 anti-Israel protesters at the University of Michigan across various campus buildings in the middle of January to call for an “immediate” divestment from Israel and to “mourn Palestinians killed” in the Hamas-Israel war.
The “New Year, No Rest” protest, which was organized by the campus chapters of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE) and Muslim Students Association among other organizations, passed through a chemistry lab and kinesiology building before ending the march at the Michigan Union, per report by the The Michigan Daily.
SAFE President Salma Hamamy said to protest attendees that 2024 “cannot distract” people from Israel’s brutal military campaign in Palestine, declaring “I cannot look at a calendar and say that we have begun something new […] my calendar says that it’s been 95 days of one of the most horrific genocides in modern history.”
Hamamy continued by noting that “As we begin this new semester, our determination to remain on the side of Gaza will always outweigh and prevail our moments of despair.”
Further, SAFE blamed University of Michigan for taking biased actions against pro-Palestinian organizations. The group’s director of activism, Zaynab Elkolaly, asserted that “Muslim and brown organizations have to jump through hoops” to get the attention of university officials.
Social Work major and protest attendee Ariana Gonzalez said she was involved in the march to “show […] support for the Palestinian peoples and all of the colonized nations around the world.”
Such campus drama will only escalate if the US continues to subsidize Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. These tensions are a form of soft blowback for the US’s unconditional support of Israel.
There is no question that universities need to provide better security measures to prevent potential violent agitators on both sides to promote peace. However, university administrators should not restrict free speech on campuses just to cater to the interests of Zionist organizations.
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