US UNIVERSITIES IN TURMOIL

Students in America are voicing their anger about Israel's intervention in Gaza. This unrest recalls similar situations during the Vietnam times.

It is obvious that PM Netanjahu's policies are highly unpopular in the world. The atrocities of Hamas don't give Israel a blank check to compete for a horror medal.

Hamas didn't need October 7 to further damage its reputation. Israel had every right to retaliate. Unfortunately it went too far and what is left of Gaza will forever be a stain that cannot be redeemed. That the Jews, who have suffered the worst tragedy in human history maybe, continue their often indiscriminate killing spree is hard to rationalize.

The disbelief worldwide shouldn't surprise anyone. The fate of the hostages requires action, negotiation, you name it.  Everything must be done, considered, to give them back their dignity and freedom. Likewise, they should be spared the trauma of having to walk over the bodies of Palestinians, while returning to the freedom they deserve.

The various manifestations in universities obey to a variety of  causes. There existed a general malaise already. The causes are multiple, almost competing with one another. To a certain extent Gaza is more an anchor for many pre-existing frustrations that had no real outlet before. Most of the students who manifest bona fide are not anti-semitic, fortunately. They are also being manipulated by the usual anarchists, who just pursue some nihilistic agenda. Many feel bewildered and cheated in this A.I. dawn. 

Israel is losing its former exceptionalism and is becoming a country that no longer fits in its existential narrative. The death and the debris in Gaza are the shroud that covers its bygone soul.

Manifestations will continue. The American Secretary of State, together with many Arab leaders who are showing restraint, deserve respect for keeping Sisyphus' boulder rolling. The Ukrainian tragedy, the climate aberrations, the hunger archipelagos, add even more negatives to the mood. People manifest for a cause but the origin of the global neurasthenia is to be found everywhere. The internecine genie is out of the bottle. We have entered the age of depression.