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Monique, your academic work and insights (connecting the dots) have such precision. Are you in contact with Ruth Ben-Ghiat? She must see this.

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HI David, and thanks. It's still all preliminary as I don't have a full picture of all the actors involved. However, it's a start. Yes, I know Ruth and admire her work. Thanks for reading and commenting, David

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Thanks so much for this Monique - especially for the background which I had no idea originated in Italy. We live in a neighborhood between MIT and Harvard so are familiar with what's happening at the moment. As my husband walked home from work the other evening, he could hear them shouting Intifada from the encampment at MIT. The idea that these protests happened immediately after Oct 7th before Israel had reacted militarily, screams organized and prepared. Some people in the UDS are asking who is funding these protests because the rather nice tents didn't just pop out of the ground and they have tents set up for food/drink and apparently melatonin gummies, the essential of any protest *eye roll*. I have no problem with protests (I took my then toddler daughter to two anti-Trump protests) but something about these does not sit right. I have a couple of friends from Eastern Europe who are just flabbergasted by the current situation and they live here!

I have friends whose social media feeds are exclusively about Palestine and nothing else. It feels so . . ..artificial, though I don't doubt for a second the authenticity and desire of my friends to see the humanitarian crisis in Gaza addressed and resolved. The problem is I feel like the constant reposting of what everyone else is reposting is leading to - well, places that aren't great.

There have also been protests at home in Australia on a couple of campuses.

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Hi Liz, and thanks for commenting. I can see there are similarities where you are too. I'm also asking the same questions of where the financing comes from. I worked for quite a while in politics here in Italy and know that events, publishing etc takes cash. I don't have answers yet. They may also be organic in some cases. I hate putting everyone in the same box as I could miss important information if I do that, and frankly each group merits a deeper dive.

I have close friends who support the Palestinian position, and I'm not interested in people who have a view based on ideology or true belief. What makes me ill is thinking about the manipulation at the hands of those with ulterior motives.

Thanks again, and for reading

Mo

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