Students hold pro-Palestine protests at UNC Charlotte

CHARLOTTE — Pro-Palestine protests are sweeping across college campuses and are now happening at UNC Charlotte.

Chopper 9 Skyzoom has been over the university Thursday afternoon where there were students waving Palestinian flags.

Many of these students are asking their colleges to divest from funds supporting Israel.

The students, who covered their faces in fear of retaliation, said they support the liberation of Palestinians.

“And then another thing, a more direct local goal for us is to apply pressure to the university to confront its lack of institutional neutrality,” one said.

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They’re with the group Social Justice for Northern Africa and Southwest Asia.

They petitioned the student government association for support of the resolution, which calls for an official recognition of the genocide by Israel.

They also want divestment by the university from Israel, including in its Mount Zion archaeological project.

They also want full transparency from the board of trustees, which met Thursday at the Student Union on campus.

Moore Halfon said his parents are Israeli.

He is a member of one of the traditional Jewish fraternities at UNC Charlotte and said some of the protests make him feel unsafe on campus.

“I’m not against them by any means, happy for them to say what they want to do, but it seems more anti-Israel than pro-Palestine,” Halfon said.

Chopper 9 SkyZoom was over someone stealing and stomping on an Israeli flag.

“There’s a lot of posters on campus for pro-Palestine but there are a few pro-Israel posters, they get taken down or vandalized,” Halfon said.

Channel 9′s Evan Donavan asked Halfon for an example.

“A big one is, ‘From the River to the Sea,’” Halfon said.

Donavan and the Channel 9 crew did not hear that change on Thursday but did hear chants claiming genocide.

They say they planned to post-up on campus overnight, but university officials forced them to break down their encampment.

“All of our signs are face up on the ground because we can’t plant our signs in the ground,” a Palestine supporter said. “We have no tents because the university got rid of our tents.”

UNC Charlotte released a statement: “As a public institution, UNC Charlotte is committed to upholding the right of individuals to engage in free speech on campus. We are grateful to all members of our campus community for respectfully exercising their First Amendment rights today.”

The student newspaper, “The Niner Times,” reported the student government association did not make a decision Thursday on the issue.

The board of trustees didn’t make a decision either.

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