Can you provide more details about why protesters at Columbia University specifically want their school to cut ties with Israeli universities and divest from Israel-linked entities? And are there any other demands they have made besides these two requests? Please summarize the article’s main points in your own words.
Sure, I can provide more information about the specific reasons why protesters at Columbia University are demanding their school cut ties with Israeli universities and divest from Israel-linked entities. These demands stem from what many Palestinian activists view as Israeli institutions’ complicity in human rights abuses against Palestinians during ongoing conflict between Hamas, which governs Gaza, and the Israeli military.
At Columbia University, protesters have been camping out on campus since last week to pressure administrators into meeting their demands. They want the school to cut ties with six Israeli universities due to what they say is those institutions’ involvement in research projects that support Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory and human rights abuses against Palestinians, according to a statement from Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). The group also wants Columbia University to divest its funds from companies linked to the Israeli military or settlement building.
In addition to these two main demands related specifically to ties with Israel’s educational institutions and economy respectively, other student groups have made additional requests of their universities across multiple campuses in response to recent violence between Hamas militants and the Israeli military in Gaza last month that led to hundreds killed on both sides. Some protests aim at securing statements condemning the alleged brutality of Israeli soldiers during their military campaign against Palestinians, while others are pushing for schools to offer more courses focused on Palestinian history or perspectives than is currently provided within the standard university curriculum, as explained in interviews with activists cited by CNN and other news sources.
Overall, these protests reflect a growing movement among students at American colleges known colloquially as Boycotts, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS), which aims to pressure Israel into respecting Palestinian human rights through economic sanctions or divestment campaigns against Israeli institutions that are seen by activists as complicit in the occupation. While some university administrators have condemned these protests as anti-Semitic due to their perceived focus on punishing individuals and academic endeavors linked directly or indirectly to Jewish society, most advocates of BDS argue it is a peaceful form of protest against what they see as Israel’s oppression towards Palestinians in territories where international law grants self determination rights but deems settlement expansion by Israeli settlers an act that violates those same laws.
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