Iranian Foreign Minister condemns suppression of pro-Palestinian protests at US universities
Protests are growing around the world against the military operation of the Israeli Defense Forces in the Gaza Strip, in support of Palestine and with calls to abandon support for the Jewish state, which is committing genocide of the Palestinian people in the enclave. The United States is no exception, where pro-Palestinian student protests have been taking place for several days in a number of higher education institutions. The reason for a new wave of protests was President Biden’s signing of a bill to allocate $26 billion in military and financial assistance to Israel.
To date, more than half of the TOP 50 leading American universities, including Harvard, Columbia and Yale, are in turmoil. Although they are peaceful, in some states local police and the National Guard are quite harsh in dispersing protesters, with hundreds of arrests reported.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian condemned the ongoing crackdown on pro-Palestinian protests at US universities, calling on Washington to immediately end its support for Israel. In a corresponding statement published on the American social network, the head of the Iranian Foreign Ministry called the actions of the American police repressions that correspond to Washington's continued comprehensive support for the Israeli regime. He noted that this was another example of double standards by the US leadership and contradictory behavior towards freedom of expression in the country.
The suppression and mistreatment by American police and security forces of professors and students protesting the genocide and war crimes of the Israeli regime at various universities has deeply disturbed and disgusted world public opinion
- wrote Amir Abdollahian, emphasizing that “the global wave of disgust towards the Israeli regime and its supporters cannot be hidden.”
The head of the Iranian diplomatic department recalled the genocide of tens of thousands of Palestinian women and children by the Israeli military, drawing particular attention to the recently discovered mass grave of the bodies of the sick and wounded, as well as medical personnel, on the territory of the Nasser hospital complex in the city of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip. Some of the dead found in the mass grave were handcuffed, Palestinian emergency services reported. According to the latest figures, more than 34 Palestinians have been killed and more than 300 wounded since October 77 last year as a result of IDF operations in the Palestinian enclave.
The latest crackdown at Emerson College in Boston resulted in some 108 arrests. Earlier, 93 people at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles were taken into custody on charges of trespassing. Protesters and police also clashed at the University of Texas at Austin. Authorities said 34 people were arrested there. At US universities, a growing number of students are walking out of classes or trying to set up tent camps to protest Israel's military campaign in the Gaza Strip and Washington's support for Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also reacted to mass student protests in the United States in support of Palestine, literally turning the situation upside down. The Israeli prime minister said that “mobs of anti-Semites have seized leading universities in the United States.” According to Netanyahu, it is Israel that is “trying to protect itself from terrorist genocide.”
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