Amid the ongoing pro-Palestine protests on the campuses of American universities, a video of a pro-Israel counter-protestor chanting “Jai Shree Ram” in response to alleged anti-India slogans raised by the protestors, has been making the rounds on social media.
The video, which is now viral on X (formerly known as Twitter), shows an American demonstrator, draped in the flag of Israel, chanting “Am Yisrael Chai” (the people of Israel live) and “Jai Shree Ram” (Victory to Lord Ram). Jai Shree Ram is often associated with the Hindu nationalist movement in India and has morphed into a rallying cry for Indian nationalism in recent years.
According to Asianet, this incident occurred at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where pro-Palestine and pro-Israel protestors clashed, leading to physical and verbal altercations and a series of arrests.
Indian students’ solidarity with Palestine
On the other hand, several Indian students in these universities, particularly at the University of Columbia, were seen expressing their solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
Videos of Indian students chanting the Azadi slogan, which gained mainstream prominence in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) protests of 2016 and the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act/National Register of Citizens (anti-CAA/NRC) protests of 2020, have been spotted on social media. Through the chants, the students even criticised the Indian government’s military and diplomatic ties with Israel.
A few students also performed Dhandiya and Bharatanatyam (Indian traditional dance forms) in the so-called “Liberated zones”, and these videos are also being circulated on social media.
Further, Achinthya Sivalingan, an Indian student at Princeton University from Coimbatore, was arrested within minutes of setting up a pro-Palestine protest encampment on the university’s campus. Sivalingan was also barred from the varsity’s campus soon after this, according to various news reports.
Pro-Palestine protests in American universities
Over the last 10 days, students and student organisations across various elite universities across the United States of America (USA), such as the University of Columbia, Harvard University, Indiana University, Arizona State University, Washington University, University of Texas, Austin, New York University, Yale University, and more, have been protesting.
The pro-Palestine protestors in these universities demand that the universities cut financial ties with Israel and divest from companies that financially aid Israel’s military aggression in the Gaza Strip following the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas.
Further, they call into question the role of the USA in aiding what they call “genocide” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and demand an unconditional ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
These universities responded to the protests through a severe crackdown on the protest sites, with police ransacking the encampments and arresting protestors. Over 100 protestors were detained at the University of Columbia and the University of Southern California, with more made at New York University and Yale University, reports Asianet.
Further, pro-Israel student groups and faculty members have accused these protests of having anti-Semitic overtones and making campuses unsafe for Jewish students.
These protests have sparked a huge debate amidst the already polarised opinions on Israel and Palestine, with some pundits even comparing them to the anti-Vietnam War protests of the 1960s-70s.
