Generational shift? Gaza war protests spread across US campuses

The Debate

The expression went viral in the 1960s: generation gap. Those in power had fought in World War II and were shocked to see college students in the US rebel against the call to serve their country and go to war. How much has the current movement on college campuses exposed a new generation gap? Will the consequences be as far-reaching? For the first time since the Vietnam War, Columbia University brought in police to break up a pro-Palestinian encampment, sparking further sit-in protests across the US.

We ask about the students' calls for a ceasefire and for some, a boycott of Israel along the lines of the 1980s movement to divest from apartheid-era South Africa. Will a seemingly endless war in Gaza tear the American left apart, the way the Vietnam War did?

And what about this side of the Atlantic? Students here, too, are divided. Many also perceive Israel not as David but as Goliath. How should the legitimate fears felt by both Jews and Muslims that the eruption in the Middle East will lead to unbridled intolerance going mainstream be addressed?

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.