SENEGALESE STUDENTS CHASE OFF ISRAELI ENVOY

Student protests have long been a potent force for social and political breakthroughs, igniting broader movements to challenge the establishment that is often in cahoots with imperialist interests.

It’s no different with Senegalese youth standing in solidarity with Palestinians against Israel’s military onslaught in Gaza.

On 27 May, students at the prominent Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD) in Dakar demonstrated the West African state’s solidarity with Palestine when they chased away the Israeli ambassador from the campus. Yuval Waks was planning to deliver a talk on international relations practices at the institution.

Popular support for Palestine in Senegal has endured despite Dakar restoring diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv in 1995, 22 years after founding president Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906-2001) cut ties in 1973. The election of 45-year-old President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and 50-year-old Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko in 2024, propelled to power by largely youthful voters, saw a shift in Senegal’s relations with Israel. Under former President Macky Sall, Dakar mended a rift over the illegal Israeli settlements, with the West African state promising to back Tel Aviv’s candidacy as an observer at the African Union. In June 2024, Sonko called for Senegalese solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Senegalese youth join their counterparts all over the globe demanding an end to Israel’s military onslaught in Gaza. The British medical journal, The Lancet, reported in July 2024 that the death toll could have surpassed 186,000. UN Women states that since 7 October 2023, Israel has k*lled more than 28,000 women and girls, averaging one woman and one girl every hour. Israel has k*lled nearly 3,000 Palestinians after re-imposing a total blockade on humanitarian aid in March, ending a ceasefire that began on 19 January. As of 12 May, the UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification indicates that about 470,000 Palestinians are facing ‘catastrophic hunger’ and the entire population is experiencing ‘acute food insecurity.’

Video credit: @RT_com (X), Ambassade d'Israël au Sénégal (Facebook), @GeoPwatch (X)