College Campuses – As the war in Gaza continues for a seventh month, many within the United States have begun to voice their opinions on the war. On college campuses around the nation, many students have begun to gather and protest the ongoing war and particularly the high civilian casualty in the Gaza strip and Israel’s choice to limit the amount of aid entering the war torn area. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sworn that the IDF will continue its push in the Gaza strip until Hamas has been eradicated.
College campuses around the nation have experienced protests from those who say that war crimes are being committed by Israeli forces against the innocent civilians in Gaza and want to see the United States stop sending aid to Israel. Protest movements have been seen across the nation from small demonstrations to larger demonstrations that required police intervention. At graduation ceremonies around the country some protesters wrote messages supporting Palestine on their cap and gowns and others taking more extreme measures like protesters trying to block entrances to graduations. In some colleges around the nation protesters took over entire buildings owned by the university and made encampments which required police intervention to remove them for illegally trespassing. These disruptive actions on campuses have made some university presidents threaten students with not graduating and not receiving their degrees.
Activists have called for a boycott of popular brands like McDonalds and Starbucks. Claims that these companies support Israel in their war in Gaza have caused widespread boycotts of these major brands and they seem to be having an effect. Both companies reported softer sales and earnings this quarter due to what they believe is the boycott of their brands and the stock price for both companies dropped when they were announced. McDonalds maintains that they do not support any side of the war and remain neutral but activists claim that McDonalds clearly supported the war after locations in Israel gave discounts to Israeli soldiers. Starbucks Workers United union posted a message on X formerly Twitter showing their support for Palestinians. Starbucks sued the union claiming they used the brand of Starbucks without permission which many viewed as Starbucks supporting Israel.
Israel started their invasion of the city Rafah in the south of the Gaza strip and have hit civilian casualties of 82 per day, the highest number of deaths recorded for one day since the war started. The European Union has threatened that if Israel does not do a better job of protecting innocent lives, they will have to cut ties with Israel.
