Pirate's Cove

Will Reuters hit the mark? Let’s find out

Why Palestinians can count on American students but not Arab allies to protest

Palestinians may be gratified to see American university campuses erupt in outrage over Israel’s offensive in Gaza, but some in the embattled enclave are also wondering why no similar protests have hit the Arab countries they long viewed as allies.

Demonstrations have rocked U.S. universities this week, with confrontations between students, counter protesters and police, but while there have been some protests in Arab states, they have not been nearly as large or as vociferous.

“We follow the protests on social media every day with admiration but also with sadness. We are sad that those protests are not happening also in Arab and Muslim countries,” said Ahmed Rezik, 44, a father of five sheltering in Rafah in Gaza’s south.

These protests are also happening in many other nations which far away from the conflict, allowing the students to do their virtue signaling thing, wearing Intifada keffiyehs, writing and chanting slogans, doing TikToks, all while really having no skin in the game.

Reasons for the comparative quiet on Arab campuses and streets may range from a fear of angering autocratic governments to political differences with Hamas and its Iranian backers or doubts that any protests could impact state policy.

American students at elite universities may face arrest or expulsion from their schools, but harsher consequences could await Arab citizens protesting without state authorisation.

And U.S. students may feel more motivation to protest as their own government backs and arms Israel, while even those Arab countries that have full diplomatic relations with it have been strongly critical of its military campaign.

When asked about the conflict, Arabs from Morocco to Iraq have consistently voiced fury at Israel’s actions and solidarity with Gaza’s embattled inhabitants, leading to muted Ramadan celebrations across the region last month.

Well, those are good reasons, including the discussions of protests. Free speech, protesting peaceably, and the Constitutional right to petition for redress of grievance are not things really present in Arab nations. But, none were scared enough to forgo protesting during the Arab Spring, right? Even the people got out in Iran with the green revolution.

What is failed to be mentioned is that most of these college kids and other young folks, and older folks, know who the Palestinians are. They know that are both implicitly and explicitly linked to terrorist groups, including Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and, of course, Hamas in Gaza. They know, and their political leaders know, what happens when you let large groups of Palestinians into their nations: at best they are heavy burdens, at worse they try and create their own military and cause a civil war. Those few Arab nations who have a Palestinian population tend to keep them isolated and controlled. They do not allow assimilation because they know they won’t assimilate, and do not want to take anymore in.

Palestinians align heavily with the tenants of the Muslim Brotherhood, for which quite a few Arab nations want nothing to do with. Egypt bans them, because they are the root of most Muslim terrorism and extremism. And while a good chunk of Muslims hold extremist views, they want nothing to do with it themselves, and do not want it affecting their own lives. They just do not want to be involved with the Palestinians, and do not care enough to even protest. There is a reason Egypt has a big wall at their border with Gaza.