TEHRAN- Anti-war protests sweeping university campuses across the United States depict a failure by Israel to muffle protesting students.

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been vocal against the student protest movement, condemning them as “horrific”. 

In late April, he said the demonstrations “have to be stopped,” as he branded the anti-war students as “antisemitic” and demanded a stronger crackdown on the protesters. 

Despite U.S. security forces raiding and assaulting the students at their protest camps in universities, more have sprung up in an act of defiance. 

The violent manner of their arrest as Netanyahu had demanded has been condemned by many inside and outside America. 

No sector of American society has highlighted the Israeli genocide in Gaza more than students demanding their universities sever ties with the Israeli military over its war crimes against civilians in the blockaded enclave. 

Some universities have agreed to the student demands and cut ties with the Israeli military, others have sat on the fence but allowed talks with students to reach a deal and the rest have coordinated with state authorities to launch a strong crackdown on the protest camps. 

Widening news coverage of the student movement inside the U.S. is something Tel Aviv had strongly sought to put an end to. 

Netanyahu’s government is aware that even negative media coverage draws more public attention and could prove damaging to the Israeli image in the United States, the last major country standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Tel Aviv. 

The tactic used by Netanyahu in branding the students as “antisemitic” is not something new but is seen as a desperate measure. 
Any country, group, or organization that condemns the Israeli military’s actions against Palestinian civilians is branded as “antisemitic” by officials in Tel Aviv, the U.S., Britain and their corporate media. 

The Israeli regime’s persistent categorization of American students and professors joining the anti-war camps as antisemitic hasn’t helped as many in the protest movement are Jewish themselves. However, this reality has been deliberately ignored by America’s corporate media. 

The false premise that any criticism of the Israeli occupation is antisemitic is also widely rejected by many Jewish people in America and beyond. 

Israeli leaders embarked on a lengthy disinformation campaign over the events that unfolded on October 7. 

The propaganda – which investigative journalists have debunked and continue to do so – has been used to justify the Israeli military’s punishment of an entire civilian population in Gaza with unprecedented firepower and starvation. 

A similar smear campaign has been used by Tel Aviv against students in America in a bid to muffle the voices that are demanding an end to the Israeli genocide in Gaza. 
The Israeli occupation has the strong backing of American leaders. 

Former U.S. Ambassador to the UN  Nikki Haley wrote "finish them!" on the side of an IDF artillery shell during a visit to Israel. Close-up pictures of Haley's message show she added: "America [heart] Israel. Always, Nikki Haley."

Haley, who was Donald Trump's last-standing rival in the contest to be this year's Republican presidential nominee knows the munitions are more likely to be aimed at women and children rather than the armed resistance forces. 

The genocidal comments sum up America’s unequivocal support for the savage Israeli air and ground assault on civilians in Gaza, including from U.S. President Joe Biden, who is also referred to as “genocide Joe” by American university protests. 

Yet, the anti-Israeli student protesters have displayed significant courage to demand an end to genocide in Gaza despite the widespread efforts by Tel Aviv to stop the movement.