Sara Oscar, University of Technology Sydney et Cherine Fahd, University of Technology Sydney
The All Eyes on Rafah image has been criticised as being overly sanitised. How does it compare to other war images? And where is the line between performative solidarity and moral responsibility?
Recent student protests are attempts to humanize the Palestinians in desperate need of a ceasefire. Students deserve a dignity-affirming dialogue, not the continued use of police brutality.
Unions speaking out on issues as contentious as Israel-Palestine is nothing new. They have a long history of staking international positions on everything from apartheid to the Vietnam War.
The brutality of Israel’s assault on Gaza and the failure to secure the release of the October 7 hostages have left the Israeli prime minister with few friends domestically or internationally.
Recognition of Palestinian statehood was previously held out as an incentive to completing peace negotiations. But that’s changed now, and New Zealand should consider changing its position too.
Each side is righteously sensitive to any perceived hate speech from the other, but seems unwilling to limit their own punitive strategies or inflammatory language.
Nothing Hamas has done was comparable to October 7, and nothing Israel has done is comparable to what it continues to do since that day. Student protests, in this context, inspire a measure of hope.
The prosecutor at the International Criminal Court publicized his request for warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders. Publicly, Canada’s position aligns with Israel and the United States.
In the 1980s, university administrators called the police on anti-apartheid protesters, threatened to revoke their scholarships and ordered staff to demolish encampments.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is opposed to a two-state solution, but many ordinary Israelis and Palestinians don’t feel the same way.
The Canadian government’s refusal to include a description of anti-Palestinian racism sends the message that the struggles of Palestinians don’t matter.
Unless and until student encampments become an unreasonably severe disruption to the enjoyment of university spaces, there is no argument supporting state intervention.
Chile has the largest population of Palestinians outside of the Middle East, they have set up a series of community institutions including a football team.
Student protests on campuses are calling attention to atrocities in Gaza and challenging university administrators to divest. What is the best way forward that avoids unnecessary violence?