Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described the outpouring of US student solidarity with the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza as “horrific” and “reminiscent of what happened in German universities in the 1930s”, Al Jazeera reports.

Netanyahu said the wave of peaceful pro-Palestinian protests that has swept across US campuses “has to be stopped”.

In a speech shared on social media, Netanyahu also said several university presidents had responded shamefully to the protesters, and he appeared to endorse a crackdown on the student-led rallies that have seen some 550 people arrested in the past week.

“Now, fortunately, state, local, federal officials, many of them have responded differently, but there has to be more. More has to be done,” he said.