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Generation gap: What student protests say about US politics, Israel support

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Generation gap: What student protests say about US politics, Israel support

Washington, DC – A Gaza-focused campus protest movement in the United States has highlighted a generational divide on Israel, experts say, with young people’s willingness to challenge politicians and college administrators on display nationwide.

The opinion gap – with younger Americans generally more supportive of Palestinians than the generations that came before them – poses a risk to 81-year-old Democratic President Joe Biden’s re-election chances, they argue.

It could also threaten the bipartisan backing that Israel enjoys in Washington.

“We’re already seeing evidence of a generation divide on Israel, and that is going to be a long-term issue for the Democratic Party,” said Omar Wasow, assistant professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley.

“These protests accelerate that generation gap,” Wasow told Al Jazeera.

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Students at Columbia University in New York set up a Palestine solidarity encampment last week, and they have since faced arrests and other disciplinary measures after the college administration called on police to clear the protest.

Yet, despite the crackdown, similar encampments have sprung up across the US, as well as in other countries.

Footage of students, professors and journalists being violently detained by officers on various campuses spurred outrage but has done little to slow the momentum of the protests, which have continued to spread.

‘Inflection moment’

The students are largely demanding that their universities disclose their investments and withdraw any funds from weapons manufacturers and firms involved with the Israeli military.

Politicians from both major US parties, as well as the White House and pro-Israel groups, have accused the students of fuelling anti-Semitism – allegations that protesters vehemently deny.

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Eman Abdelhadi, a sociologist at the University of Chicago, said younger people are growing increasingly frustrated with the status quo on domestic and foreign policy issues.

“I think there’s a real disaffection with the older generation, but more importantly with the system that they’re running,” said Abdelhadi.

She added that the protests mark an “inflexion moment” in US public opinion more broadly.

“In American history in general, usually the big shifts in public opinion have either coincided with or been triggered by large student movements,” Abdelhadi told Al Jazeera.

She said campus activism can be the basis of political change. “There’s a sort of sense that this is the future.”

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People demonstrate at a protest near an encampment in support of Palestinians in Gaza at George Washington University in Washington, DC, April 26 [Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters]

Biden’s woes

For years, public opinion polls in the US suggest that younger people are more likely to be sympathetic towards Palestinians and critical of Israel.

But Americans overall have grown more critical of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, including in the ongoing war on Gaza.

Multiple polls suggest that a majority of US respondents back a permanent ceasefire in the besieged Palestinian enclave, where Israel has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians since the conflict broke out on October 7.

But Biden has maintained staunch support for Israel, the US’s top Middle East ally, amid the war.

The 81-year-old president’s stance could be politically costly, as Biden faces a tough re-election bid in a November election that is expected to pit him against his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump.

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Polls suggest that Biden will need to appeal to his Democratic Party base, which is not as united in support of Israel as the Republican Party.

Angus Johnston, a historian of US student activism, explained that the generational divide on Israel is especially pronounced among Democrats.

“On a national level, we have seen this for a while as a disconnect between the values of young voters and most Democratic politicians,” Johnston told Al Jazeera.

“And what we’re seeing now is a similar disconnect between young people on campus and many of the administrators who run these campuses, along with alumni and donors.”

Abdelhadi, the sociologist, added that the heavy-handed law enforcement approach to the Gaza solidarity protests has undercut Democrats’s argument that electing Biden would protect the nation from Trump, whom they accuse of authoritarianism.

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“The reality is the Democrats have been telling us that young people need to save democracy and that people of colour need to save democracy and that any quibbles with this current administration need to be put aside in order to save democracy,” she told Al Jazeera.

“But where’s the democracy when you have state troopers beating up students and faculty for protesting, and the White House saying nothing about that?”

Wasow also said the protests and crackdown against them could add to the apathy towards Biden.

“The Democrats can’t really afford to give people more reasons to vote against Biden, and this actually becomes one.”

Policy change

The student protesters are not getting involved in US partisan politics, however. They instead have stressed that their demands aim to help protect the human rights of Palestinians.

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So can the demonstrations help bring about changes to US policy and achieve their divestment demands?

Johnston, the historian, said it is unlikely that US colleges will divest from large firms and the defence industry in the short term, but the call for transparency in their investments is reasonable.

He added that long-term change is possible, but it will not come overnight.

“We have seen over and over again that student organising does change policy, not always quickly, and not always in the ways that the students would have hoped,” Johnston said.

“But we do see that when student organising rises to a certain level of intensity, it can have a significant effect.”

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For example, he said college activism against apartheid in South Africa began in the 1950s and grew over the years.

“I think that there is no question that the anti-apartheid campus organising of the 1980s was a significant piece of what shifted American popular opinion and political opinion on the South African regime,” he said.

Wasow, who studied the 1960s civil rights protests, also said demonstrations could shift public opinion, help grow political coalitions around a cause, and build civic capacity to advance an issue.

“If what’s happening now doesn’t result in any kind of policy change but does result in a generation of young people developing some kind of civic capacity around activism around these issues, I think that would continue to have effects in the long term.”

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Iranian man, Romanian woman charged after allegedly trying to enter UK nuclear missile base, officials say

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Iranian man, Romanian woman charged after allegedly trying to enter UK nuclear missile base, officials say

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An Iranian man and a Romanian woman have now been charged after allegedly unsuccessfully attempting to enter a nuclear missile base in Scotland this week, Police Scotland announced Saturday. 

The agency said around 5 p.m. on Thursday, “we were made aware of two people attempting to enter HM Naval Base Clyde.” 

“A 34-year-old Iranian man and a 31-year-old Romanian woman have been arrested and charged in connection with the incident. They are due to appear at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on Monday, March 23,” Police Scotland said. “Enquiries are ongoing.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to Police Scotland for further comment.

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IRANIAN MAN, SECOND PERSON ARRESTED AFTER ALLEGEDLY TRYING TO ENTER UK NUCLEAR MISSILE BASE

HMS Artful, an Astute-class nuclear-powered fleet submarine, is shown at His Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde on March 4, 2025. ((Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Citing the Times, the Telegraph newspaper reported that the suspects were turned away from the base because they lacked the correct passes and were later arrested nearby for allegedly “acting suspiciously in the vicinity.” 

HM Naval Base Clyde — commonly known as Faslane — is considered the primary base for the United Kingdom’s missile fleet. 

The Royal Navy says the base is home “to the core of the Submarine Service, including the nation’s nuclear deterrent, and the new generation of hunter-killer submarines.” 

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TRUMP WARNS OF IRANIAN ‘SLEEPER CELLS’ AS CANADA ACCUSED OF HARBORING REGIME OPERATIVES

A general view of His Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde on March 4, 2025 in Faslane, Scotland.   (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

The U.K. Parliament says the Royal Navy currently operates a fleet of nine submarines, with the entire fleet based at HM Naval Base Clyde.

“Five of those are conventionally-armed nuclear-powered attack submarines of the Astute class. A further four are ballistic missiles submarines (SSBN) of the Vanguard class that comprise the UK’s submarine-based nuclear deterrent,” it added. 

HMS Artful, an Astute-class nuclear-powered fleet submarine, is shown at His Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde on March 4, 2025 in Faslane, Scotland. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

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A Royal Navy spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News Digital on Friday, “Police Scotland have arrested two people who unsuccessfully attempted to enter HM Naval Base Clyde on Thursday 19 March. As the matter is subject to an ongoing investigation, we will not comment further.” 

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Trump threatens to deploy ICE to airports amid Homeland Security shutdown

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Trump threatens to deploy ICE to airports amid Homeland Security shutdown

United States President Donald Trump has threatened to deploy federal immigration agents to the country’s airports to “do Security like no one has ever seen”.

“I look forward to moving ICE in on Monday, and have already told them to, ‘GET READY,’” Trump wrote in a series of posts on Saturday. “NO MORE WAITING, NO MORE GAMES!”

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Trump’s warnings on Saturday arrived on the five-week mark of a partial government shutdown that affects the Department of Homeland Security.

Congress missed a February 14 deadline to fund the sprawling department, which includes agencies dedicated to border security, anti-terrorism operations, immigration services and emergency management.

As a result, nearly 50,000 employees at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) have been working for weeks without pay.

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That has prompted some airport security agents to call in sick or quit the TSA entirely. The result has been long lines and delays at some of the country’s airports.

In his first post on Truth Social, Trump blamed Democrats for the impasse and threatened to use Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to conduct airport security instead.

“If the Radical Left Democrats don’t immediately sign an agreement to let our Country, in particular, our Airports, be FREE and SAFE again, I will move our brilliant and patriotic ICE Agents to the Airports where they will do Security like no one has ever seen before,” Trump wrote.

He then added that he would task the ICE agents with “the immediate arrest of all Illegal Immigrants who have come into our Country, with heavy emphasis on those from Somalia“.

Since taking office for a second term, Trump has led a violent crackdown on immigration, legal and otherwise.

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Somalis and Somali Americans have been a particular target of the Republican president’s ire. In early December, for instance, he called them “garbage” and said they “contribute nothing”.

“I don’t want them in our country. I’ll be honest with you,” Trump said at the time. “Their country is no good for a reason. Their country stinks. And we don’t want them in our country.”

The Republican leader revisited that sentiment in Saturday’s social media post, once again accusing Somalis of having “totally destroyed” what he called “the once Great State of Minnesota”.

Minnesota has the largest Somali American community in the US, and it is also the home state of one of Trump’s most prominent critics, Representative Ilhan Omar, who came to the US as a child refugee from Somalia.

The Midwestern state was recently the subject of a deadly immigration operation that killed two US citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, in shootings by agents.

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That violence is at the heart of the stalemate over the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the two agencies involved in the recent deaths.

Democrats have called for the Homeland Security Department to reform its immigration enforcement practices, including by implementing rules to require agents to clearly identify themselves, stop racial profiling and seek judicial warrants before entering homes.

Republicans, however, have called those demands non-starters. They have also rejected Democratic proposals to vote on funding for the TSA separately from funding for ICE and other immigration agencies.

To force Democrats to vote for Homeland Security funding, Trump has threatened not to sign any legislation that Congress passes. He has also repeatedly accused Democrats of preventing airport security agents from getting paid.

As of March 17, the TSA has reported that 366 security officers have quit their jobs.

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Absences have also spiked: The TSA noted that the highest rate came at Houston Hobby International Airport on March 14, when the callout rate was 55 percent.

Industry analysts warn that the absences put increased strain on the remaining security officers, who might be more tired and less alert to threats.

It is unclear, however, how ICE agents would improve current conditions at the airport, given that they do not have the same training as TSA agents. Critics also pointed to the risk of militarised actions in civilian spaces like airports, where families and the elderly are present.

“I look forward to seeing ICE in action at our Airports,” Trump wrote in one of his posts.

In another, he doubled down on his criticism against Democrats, calling them “vicious and uncaring”.

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“What they have done to the Department of Homeland Security, our fantastic TSA Officers, and, most importantly, the great people of our Country, is an absolute disgrace,” he wrote.

“If the Democrats do not allow for Just and Proper Security at our Airports, and elsewhere throughout our Country, ICE will do the job far better than ever done before!”

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Live possum discovered hiding among plush toys in an Australian airport gift shop

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Live possum discovered hiding among plush toys in an Australian airport gift shop

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Someone was playing possum — or stuffed animal.

Among plush kangaroos, dingoes and Tasmanian devils ready to be bought by parents of antsy children, a live brushtail possum waited in a gift shop at an Australian airport this week.

The wild animal was first noticed by a shopper in the store on Wednesday, retail manager Liam Bloomfield of Hobart Airport in the state of Tasmania said.

“A passenger reported it to …. one of the staff members on shift who couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing,” Bloomfield told The Associated Press. “She then called the (airport) management and said we’ve got a possum in the store.”

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TOURISTS IN LAS VEGAS PAY $1,000 FOR DINNER ON THE STRIP WHILE SHARKS EAT LIKE ROYALTY

A live Australian brushtail possum sits on the display shelf at a terminal shop at Hobart Airport in Hobart, Australia, on Wednesday.  (Melissa Oddie via AP)

Staff at the airport were able to remove the animal without harming it.

“I’m imaging it saw some of the plush animals that were for sale on the shelf and it decided to make its home with those,” Bloomfield joked of why the possum was hiding with the stuffed toys. “It wanted to blend in.”

EXPERT SOUNDS ALARM AFTER STUDY FINDS POPULAR TRAVEL ITEM CARRIES FAR MORE BACTERIA THAN EXPECTED

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The arrivals area at Hobart Airport in Australia.  (Steve Bell/Getty Images)

“Can you spot the imposter?” the airport wrote in a Facebook post Thursday that showed the possum curled up in a cubby with its stuffed counterparts.

“This cheeky lost possum found a clever hiding place among the Aussie plushies in our retail store,” the airport continued. “Luckily it was safely relocated out of the terminal area and the space was cleaned.”

Passengers boarding a plane at Hobart Airport in Australia.  (William West/AFP via Getty Images)

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Bloomfield said the possum not only found a way into the airport but also their hearts.

“We’ll have a little shrine to the possum,” he revealed, according to The Independent. “There will be a nice little photo; once it gets a name, we will put a nice little post in front of the store to make sure it’s remembered.”

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