On October 7th 2023, Hamas led a surprise attack on Israel, where more than 1,200 Israelli’s were killed with 253 being taken as Hostages. Israel then declared war against Hamas, with the Biden administration declaring their support for Israel in the war. Up to April 15th of 2024, more than 33,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, and about 1.7 million Gazans out of the 2.1 million of them being displaced.

Recently many students at colleges have been holding pro Palestinian protests. More than 100 colleges have students that are protesting in the U.S. many of them holding encampments for multiple days to protest. The students protesting have many different expectations, though generally they are calling for an end to the war between Israel and Hamas. Many also want the colleges to separate themselves from those who do support Israel or those that profit off of the war between Israel and Hamas.

Many of the Schools were not happy with the students protesting, even bringing in police to force the students to leave, having students being arrested because of this. However some of the schools decided to come to an agreement with the students. The first of those were Brown University and Northwestern University. With these University’s negotiating with students other Universities have acknowledged that that could be a possibility if the protesting continues.

Although many people have varying opinions on the topic of the war between Israel and Hamas, it is great that so many students felt like they could stand up for what they believed and had the courage to do so even when it is a very controversial topic. This shows all of us that it is important to stand up for what we believe, and fight for the changes that we believe could make this world a better place.