by Maximillian Alvarez | Aug 14, 2026 | education, Gaza, Israel, Palestine, Podcast, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US
In 2024, at the height of Israel’s US-backed genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, one of the most widespread waves of college campus protests since the Vietnam War exploded across the United States. Then came the repressive backlash. Over the past two years, we’ve seen a harrowing assault on free speech and the right to protest from the federal government and Zionist organizations, and universities themselves have ramped up their own internal surveillance and repression machines, weaponizing them against their own students, grad students, and faculty.
Life, learning, and activism on American college campuses looks very different today than it did in 2024, but the student-led Palestine solidarity movement is not going away. As a new school year begins, we speak with four students at different college campuses across the University System of Maryland (USM), who are all organizers and members of the USM Divestment Coalition for Palestine, about how the movement is maintaining its demands and adapting its tactics in 2026.
Additional links/info:
USM DIvestment Coalition for Palestine website, Instagram, and Linktree
Diamondback Staff, The Diamondback, “USM students call for divestment from defense companies at Board of Regents meeting”
Credits:
Audio Post-Production: Alina Nehlich
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated.Maximillian Alvarez:
Welcome back to the Real News Network. I’m Maximillian Alvarez. Two years ago at the height of Israel’s US-backed genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, we witnessed one of the most widespread waves of college campus protests in this country since the Vietnam War. Student-led Palestine solidarity encampments exploded from Columbia University in New York to UCLA to right here in Baltimore. And as we’ve been covering continuously here at
by Sara Awad | Aug 13, 2026 | Children, Gaza, Genocide, Israel, News Analysis, Palestine
While humanitarian associations’ coverage of Gaza focuses on how to provide food, medicine, and shelter, another devastating consequence of wars is the loss of childhood itself. According to various reports and estimates, tens of thousands of children have been killed or injured in Israel’s war on Gaza, and many more have been affected by the loss of one or both parents.
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by Amy Goodman | Aug 12, 2026 | Gaza, Genocide, Interview, Jeremy Corbyn, Palestine, UK
From London, we revisit the Gaza Tribunal, an independent, nongovernmental inquiry into the United Kingdom’s complicity in the Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. The tribunal, held nearly one year ago, was chaired by our three guests: former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, Israeli professor of human rights law Neve Gordon and Palestinian legal scholar Shahd Hammouri. Their new book is…
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by Mitchell Plitnick | Aug 11, 2026 | Board of Peace, demilitarization, Donald Trump, Gaza, Genocide, Israel, Op-Ed, Palestine
Among many buzzwords in diplo-speak around Palestine is the support for “a demilitarized Palestinian state living side by side in peace next to Israel.” This condition is repeated so often that it goes unnoticed most of the time. That premise, and its inherent injustice, dysfunctionality, and lack of pragmatism, was highlighted this week by no less an entity than Donald Trump’s Orwellian…
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by Sharon Zhang | Aug 10, 2026 | Donald Trump, Gaza, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, News
President Donald Trump said that he blames Iran, not Israel, for the “damages and death” done to Gaza and Lebanon on Monday after he demanded compensation from Tehran in his latest attempt to achieve favorable terms in his negotiations with Iran. “[W]ith respect to the Iran negotiations, Iran should be responsible for the damages and death caused to the people of Lebanon, Syria, Yemen…
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by Sharon Zhang | Aug 10, 2026 | Francesca Albanese, Gaza, Genocide, Israel, News, Palestine, UN, west bank
A group of UN experts has warned against Israel’s recent escalations in Gaza after Israeli forces killed 160 Palestinians in the strip last month, bringing the death toll during the supposed “ceasefire” to over 1,200. “Despite a ceasefire nominally in force since October 2025, Israeli forces have killed about 160 Palestinians in Gaza in July alone,” the group of 19 human rights experts wrote…
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