The only real weapon a hunger striker has is the concern of those against whom he is striking that the hunger strikers might actually die, bringing negative repercussions on those the striker opposes. If the hunger strikers are not actually prepared to die for their cause, they have no power at all. And, as I previously noted, a hunger strike is only effective if someone actually cares if you starve yourself to death.

Many people, including me, mocked the Princeton princess and her whining about the rigors of the students’ hunger strike, because it showed the unseriousness of it. Now we have this:

Princeton University students end anti-Israel hunger strike ‘due to health concerns’

The end of the ‘hunger strike’ came after members initially vowed not to eat or drink again

by Lawrence Richard | Monday, May 13, 2024 | 4:14 AM EDT

Students at Princeton University protesting Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza have called an end to their hunger strike after just 10 days.

Princeton Divest Now, the student protest group that is calling for the New Jersey Ivy League university to divest from America’s Middle Eastern ally due to the high civilian death toll in the Gaza Strip, said additional strikers would be continuing their efforts. Continue reading →

Do you know who Aaron Bushnell was? Perhaps the name is familiar, but most people would be forgiven if they didn’t remember who he was or why they had heard his name. Senior Airman Bushnell, an enlisted man in the United States Air Force, poured an inflammable liquid on himself and committed suicide via self-immolation outside of the gates of the Israeli embassy in Washington to protest American support for Israel in their war against Hamas. SrA Bushnell was famous for a couple of days, but, let’s be honest here, while people do remember the event, the late Mr Bushnell personally wasn’t famous for long.

As we previously reported, Khader Adnan was a long-time Palestinian Arab activist, and at one point a spokesman for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Arrested many times, Mr Adnan’s weapon of choice in detention was the hunger strike. His first hunger strike, ten days long, occurred in 2000, when he was locked up not by the Israelis, but the Palestinian National Authority. In 2011, he began another hunger strike, one which lasted 66 days. In 2015, he undertook a 56-day hunger strike, which resulted in Israel releasing him. He kept getting himself arrested, and finally, after another, much longer 87-day hunger strike, died in prison on May 2, 2023.

We also reported, in February, how several Brown University students went on an eight-day-long hunger strike, and then mocked the quaint story that 30 Harvard students went on a 12 hour hunger strike in solidarity with their fellow Ivy Leaguers.

And now? Roughly 15 pro-Hamas students have gone on a hunger strike at Princeton, and hunger strikes are serious things, but they’ve opened themselves up to justifiable mockery. Continue reading →