4 May 2024
By Tom Collins
tom@TheCork.ie
Speaker denounces US police raids on campus Palestinian solidarity camps and criticises Israel for its destruction of education in Gaza
Today’s weekly Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign march and rally – the 29th held in the city since Israel’s war against Gaza commenced last October – heard Rola (Hamed) Abu Zeid–O’Neill, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, denounce this week’s police raids on Palestinian solidarity camps in US universities. Ms Zeid–O’Neill, a UCC lecturer and People Before Profit local election candidate in East Cork, spoke about the demonisation of American students for protesting against a war in which every university in Gaza has been severely damaged or destroyed by the Israelis. Education in Gaza ground to a complete halt last October. In Israel, there is a climate of fear in the universities, said Ms Zeid-O’Neill, with most Palestinian students reporting in a survey that they feel unsafe. Ms Zeid-O’Neill said lectures and social media are closely monitored by the Israeli police, with many students and lecturers taken into custody for questioning about their comments. She said that an academic author was recently arrested in a dawn raid on her home and questioned about the content of her books, which are used in studies. Some university lecturers have been fired for their views.
Today’s march was attended by around 800 people. Speaking before the march, the Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign co-chair, Kathy Glavanis, applauded the students involved in the US campus protests. She said: “The protests have trained a spotlight on US support for Israel, with many ordinary Americans appalled at the financing and arming of a state engaged in genocide. The outrageous claims made against the students by politicians and the media are part of a desperate attempt to distort the narrative in a bid to sustain a government policy that has made the US a party to the genocide. Millions of Americans are demanding an immediate halt to this.”
