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[EuchreJack]

It real question is "Afraid of what?!"

From what I have read, these were mostly non-violent protests.

[Folly]

The articles commonly say there are Jewish students among the protestors...

I just want to point out for clarity, there are Pro-Gaza protests, and also Pro-Israel protests.

Also, the two factions have just started getting violent...

[Strongpoint]

Also, non-violent protests with violent slogans (like "globalize the intifada" or "go back to Poland") are actually quite scary for the opposing side.

[hector13]

It real question is "Afraid of what?!"

From what I have read, these were mostly non-violent protests.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68937775

University security abandons a buffer zone between protesters and counter protesters, masked counter-protesters attack pro-Palestine encampments with sticks, bats, and fireworks, and the police watch on.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68933066

Police storm the occupied building using flashbangs, allegations of protesters thrown down stairs by police, and a media interview with a student blocked by the police.

[Devastator]

It real question is "Afraid of what?!"

From what I have read, these were mostly non-violent protests.

Long answer?  They're not afraid.  The anti-freedom pro-genocide right-wing crowd is in support of anti-Israel protests.  Yes, anti-Israel protests, not "pro-Gaza protests", which would begin with destroying Hamas and freeing Palestinians.  There are several reasons for this.

First up, the full-on white supremacist nazi crowd supports killing jews and naturally supports any anti-Israel movements, whatever form they take.  Yes, they are real.  Russia is lead by a Dugandist, for instance, who is very much a nazi by a different name.

Second, they can influence said movements.  You won't hear a word about Assad or, say, Hong Kong in these movements.  Assad in particular, who is a genocidal dictator right next door, and has received very, very little criticism from these 'save Palestinians' movements.  These are, of course, because they are dictators who are approved of by the right-wing pro-genocide movements.

Third.. there are certain movements like the Moonites.  Some people of influence, like General Flynn, want the end times to begin and believe this can be accomplished by moving as many Jews as possible to the middle east, and ensuring continual wars to be going on there forever.  They support any movement that will allow for more war in the middle east, like the current crop of protests against Israel.  They simultaneously support Hamas -and- extremist right-wing Israelite governments because they want war.

That third group is why the Republican controlled house of representatives specifically picked the bill providing arms for Israel to read.  If they had picked one without that, they wouldn't be able to stir up protests against their own decisions.  The members of the house who are these kind of fanatics voted in favor of the bill, while the outright Nazis like Gosar voted against it.

[Ziusudra]

Brown University agrees to hold Israel divestment vote after pressure from student protesters

Of course, they can just then vote against, and will hav gotten what they wanted for nothing.

[Strongpoint]

One of the most notable things about the protests is that the stated goal (to stop USA from supporting Israel and possibly even sanctioning it) doesn't match the slogans and symbolism of the protests.

To achieve those goals, you don't need to declare that Yemen makes you proud, you don't need to bring Hezbollah flags and Hamas headbands. Replacing American flags with Palestinian flags is also not necessary. Mentioning intifada and from the river to the sea don't fit too well. Constant fight with "Zionist" aka people who believe that some kind of Jewish state should exist is also not about stopping an alleged genocide. And why peaceful protesters in a democratic country need masks is a curious question in itself.

Stuff like

"Stop supporting genocide!"
"Netanyahu is a fascist!"
"Make Israel stop the war!"
"We demand peace!"
"Our taxes have better uses!"
"Stop the bloodshed!"

and similar would make much more sense.

Second, they can influence said movements.  You won't hear a word about Assad or, say, Hong Kong in these movements.  Assad in particular, who is a genocidal dictator right next door, and has received very, very little criticism from these 'save Palestinians' movements.  These are, of course, because they are dictators who are approved of by the right-wing pro-genocide movements.

Well, their stance is - we don't protest against Assad because the US doesn't support him unlike Israel. 
Which is also questionable. US supports Saudi Arabia that waged war against Yemen until recently, everything that can be said about Gaza now could be said about Yemen then. Yet we haven't seen protests.

[EuchreJack]

Brown University agrees to hold Israel divestment vote after pressure from student protesters

Of course, they can just then vote against, and will hav gotten what they wanted for nothing.

It's still a peaceful solution.
The more significant promise is that none of the students that participated in the protest will punished.

[anewaname]

@Strongpoint

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The articles commonly say there are Jewish students among the protestors (an unspecified quantity of the whole), and that Jewish students are "afraid" for their safety (the implicit being that "all Jewish students are afraid for their safety").

Imagine an alternative reality... Right Wing Students protest against actions of something like BLM movement. Some right wing black Americans are on the side of protesters. And protesters randomly attack black people with "wrong" views on BLM. Would you need polls? Would you care about the percentage to determine what those protests are about?

You don't need the percentages to know what it is about, you need the percentages to show that the narrative of "all Jewish students are afraid for their safety" is false. The protestors will lose the propaganda battle if they cannot get that data out.

If any of those colleges had as many as 20% of their jewish students protesting, that would change the narrative.

Would they? I can tell you what will the other side say the next day they provide such statistics. "Those are not real Jews."

After all, "Jew", like any ethnicity, is a very vague term. With Jews being an ethnoreligious group it is even more vague.

Yeah... you are hitting on the right point and there will be opposing statistics, but that doesn't mean the students should not put out their statistics while they still have some organization. The overall problem is the need to switch the narrative from the "-100% to 100% anti-semitism" scale to the "-100% to 100% anti-colonialism" scale.

Bibi and friends are in it for the money. Their profits from the West Bank settlements are a result of their colonial-business-ventures, not from their religion or culture.

@Folly

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The articles commonly say there are Jewish students among the protestors...

I just want to point out for clarity, there are Pro-Gaza protests, and also Pro-Israel protests.

Also, the two factions have just started getting violent...

The violence will happen. It is planned. Bibi's decades of supporting Hamas was not because he wanted a solution, it was because he wanted a conflict. This is why he ensured Hamas would get support and he had/has agents to ensure that support flowed to Hamas. These protests in the USA are the little struggles that are within the larger struggle. Israel is directly involved in media, attempting to portray the campus protesters as violent and radical, and they will attempt to insert professional agitators into those protest groups to start conflicts. I talked with people had emigrated from Russia around 2000. While in Russia, their protest group had to physically eject a member of the group who was trying to turn their peaceful protest into something violent. Their opinion was, he was an agent. If Bibi is successful as portraying the protests as "hateful", "violent", etc, then he wins, but if the protesters portray the Israeli government as self-serving and profit-seeking, then they win. There is a big bucket of wealth for Bibi's friends if they succeed, the selling of Gazan land to Israeli's, so violence is perfectly acceptable to them.

@EuchreJack

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

It real question is "Afraid of what?!"

From what I have read, these were mostly non-violent protests.

Right... when the police who retook Columbia were going up their porta-ramp, you could see what equipment they were carrying. A couple of portable detection devices (because, they want to see what the human eye cannot...), helmets, bulletproof vests, zip-ties, and in-hand there were a mix of what looked like tasers and batons. That was not a violent assault by police standards, that was just being prepared for a potential crazy or two; meaning they planned a "show of force" to ensure that any crazies would not be able to encourage others to do something crazy, and also brought subdual tools in case there was a crazy. They expected a cake-walk.

@Strongpoint

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Also, non-violent protests with violent slogans (like "globalize the intifada" or "go back to Poland") are actually quite scary for the opposing side.

Think back to these signs, and you will find that there have been few violent slogans... less than 1%, and only in protests where anyone could join in off the street, anyone like some idiots or some professional agitators. If there were more, you would have seen that amplified in the media.

It certainly would be scary if groups of people were roaming the streets, with many of these violent slogans, even scarier if they had weapons. Did you see any with weapons? If there were weapons, you would have seen that played repeatedly in the media...

[MaxTheFox]

Yeah no shit there will be a few violent slogans. From what I know of them it's not even a notable minority of the slogans. Aren't you into free speech?

[Strongpoint]

Yeah no shit there will be a few violent slogans. From what I know of them it's not even a notable minority of the slogans. Aren't you into free speech?

It is not how major well-organized protests work. If you bring something more radical than the movement is willing to tolerate, you will be kicked out as a provocateur with the speed of sound.

So either organization is beyond awful or those are tolerated. And those protests don't look like disorganized mobs to me.

[hector13]

There are only ever two reasons for anything, regardless of how complex *nods sagely*

These experiences have been deeply meaningful for me, not just on a political level, but also on a fundamentally spiritual one. To see Yale protests once again swept up in accusations of antisemitism denies this experience and invalidates the Jewishness of those calling for an end to the violence in Gaza.

Source: Jewish protester’s experience at Yale