India's "Right Balance" Remark On Pro-Palestine Protests At US Universities

There should be a right balance of freedom of expression and a sense of responsibility, the government has said about the pro-Palestine protests raging at top US universities. The protests, which demand divestment from Israel-linked entities, have forced several universities to switch to virtual classes and led to confrontations between students and the police.

Asked about the protests, foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said they are always in touch with Indian students studying in US universities.

"We have seen reports on the matter and have been following related events. In every democracy, there has to be the right balance between freedom of expression, a sense of responsibility and public safety and order. Democracies in particular should display this understanding in regard to other fellow democracies. After all, we are all judged by what we do at home and not what we say abroad," said Mr Jaiswal.

He also said that if there are issues linked to Indian students that have to be resolved, authorities will look into those.

India supports a two-nation solution to the Israel-Palestine issue, which includes the establishment of a sovereign state of Palestine with recognized borders.

The White House, too, yesterday said President Biden backed free speech and debate on college campuses.

Pro-Palestine protests denouncing the rising deaths in Gaza, which began at the Columbia University last week, have spread to more campuses across the US, the strongest ally of Israel. Over a hundred students have been arrested for campus occupation, which Jewish students claim to be antisemitic.

The protesting students demand a ceasefire to the war, an end to US military aid to Israel, and the withdrawal of university investments from arms suppliers and companies benefiting the war.

At Columbia University, over 100 students were arrested after a pro-Palestine rally was dispersed by the cops last week. Amid spiralling tensions, it cancelled in-person classes last Monday and switched to virtual learning. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who visited the Columbia campus on Wednesday, faced jeers that he denounced as a "mob rule" and "virus of antisemitism".

At the University of Texas in Austin, police in riot gear were deployed to face off with students who walked out chanting "down with occupation". Over 20 protesters were arrested during the protests on Wednesday. Fifty more protesters were arrested at the University of California in Los Angeles and another 130 at the New York University.

Protests have also erupted at Yale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), UC Berkeley, the University of Michigan, and Brown. At Harvard and other top universities, students have been setting up tents on the campus as part of an encampment exercise to protest the Gaza deaths.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had condemned the protests at US colleges as "horrific" and said "antisemitic mobs have taken over leading universities."