NALSAR students, faculty call for disassociation with Israeli Universities amid Gaza crisis
Hyderabad: A group of students petitioned the NALSAR administration to cut ties with the Israeli Universities of Tel Aviv and Radzyner School of Law as part of the Palestinian Boycott Divestment Sanctions movement. A total of 362 signatories, including 275 LLB [Batch of 2024-2028], LLM, and DoMS students, 70 Alumni, and 12 Faculty Members, the Student Body’s Executive Council, and with endorsements from multiple eminent personalities, stood with the petition.
“As of today, no University is left standing in Gaza. All universities in Gaza are now dust and debris. The resounding silence of Israeli universities in defending Palestine people’s basic right to education, let alone ‘academic freedom,’ and failure to strike a strong note against the Israeli government’s onslaught on Palestine’s universities is very telling of the legitimacy of their claim to ‘academic freedom,” mentioned in the letter of condemnation and petition for disassociation.
“Over and beyond their silences, Tel Aviv University has both directly and indirectly either contributed to the current onslaught in Gaza or defended its legitimacy in academic literature. It has played a crucial role in collaborating with defense-tech companies such as RAFAEL, Bet Shemesh Engines, IAI, and Elbit Systems, whose products today are actively deployed by the IDF against Palestinians. The Radzyner School of Law houses international scholar Prof. Aharon Barak, who has actively and publicly endorsed the actions of the Israeli Government, with multiple publications in defense of the Israeli State’s actions in Gaza. Both these universities have actively stayed aloof from lending any support, both academic and material, towards the cessation of hostilities against the Palestinian people. They continue to be a part of Israeli Militarism and contribute to the infrastructure of oppression and open support for Israel’s crimes. In fact, a study published by a joint Israeli-Palestinian NGO, the Alternative Information Center, states that Israeli academic institutions have not opted to take a neutral, apolitical position toward the Israeli occupation but fully support the Israeli occupation forces and policies toward the Palestinians,” written in the letter.
“It is shameful that as a university that boasts of a lively dissent culture, we play no part in posing a resistant front to Israeli actions today. It would not be amiss to state that the destruction of human life, ripping bare of its dignity, and the consequent mayhem in Palestine appeal to our faculties and responsibilities as a fellow human and humanitarians to play our small role in this movement. It is for the sake of the innumerable victims, dead children and women, shattered bodies, and stray limbs that bear witness to the hell on earth that we owe our commitment towards a boycott of any association with Israeli Universities and Institutions,” as mentioned in the letter.
“Therefore, the undersigned unequivocally condemn the past and ongoing actions of the Israeli state in Palestine, nearing genocidal undertakings, and Israel’s violation of international human rights obligations along with a binding operative ICL order. In this breath, we call upon the NALSAR Administration to cut all ties about International Exchange Programmes with Israeli Institutes, Tel Aviv University, and The Radzyner School of Law as a part of complete academic and economic disassociation with the Israeli State and academia that continues to remain not just a mute spectator but an active complicit in the ongoing crisis. It is now time to give life to our claim that we are an institution that believes in and strives to realize human rights and freedoms, peace, and well-being of all humanity. Otherwise, we submit ourselves to listen to the claim that NALSAR is a respectable and progressive institution ringing incredibly hollow,” as stated in the letter.