The pro-Palestine protests sweeping US universities mark a “real generational shift” that could herald a “reckoning” of the US’ relationship with Israel, says Mohamed Elmasry, media studies professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, to Al Jazeera.

“This is the first time the Palestinian cause has become a domestic issue in the United States. It’s become more or less mainstream,” Elmasry told Al Jazeera.

“It’s not just Arab or Palestinian or Muslim students who are protesting on behalf of the Palestinian cause, but you have organisations like Jewish Voice for Peace, you have Black Lives Matter activists, you have Latino and Hispanic activist groups and many others.”

The growing protest movement, if its momentum continues, has the potential to “significantly” alter the US’s long-term relationship with Israel, Elmasry said.

“The United States is going through a kind of reckoning right now with the state of Israel and with Zionism more broadly. For the first time in the decades-long history of this relationship, millions of Americans are starting to ask why does the United States support Israel to the extent that it does,” he said.

“I think you will start to see changes… these young people are the future.”