Spanish universities to suspend ties with Israeli institutions

Dozens of Spanish universities have announced they will suspend all ties with Israeli institutions and research centres deemed to be “complicit” in the war in Gaza.

The Conference of University Rectors in Spain (CRUE), a non-profit association of 76 Spanish universities, made the announcement following widespread student protests across the country.

It also follows a decision by the University of Barcelona Council to end its links with complicit Israeli academic institutions and companies.

CRUE said it was to “suspend collaboration agreements with Israeli universities and research centres that have not expressed a firm commitment to peace and compliance with international humanitarian law”.

The move was welcomed by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), which said it was a significant measure that all international universities should follow.

Haidar Eid, associate professor of post-colonial literature at Al-Aqsa University in Gaza, said the decision was a “historic, concrete step” to hold Israel, and its complicit academic institutions, accountable.

Mr Eid said Israeli forces had destroyed every university in Gaza, killing some of his students and colleagues, while some of the country’s universities have “boasted” about offering support.

“The decision by universities in Spain, and the student uprisings that led to this decision, give us hope that justice can and will prevail,” he added.

“Israeli universities have a long and well-documented history of actively supporting Israel’s regime of military occupation, settler colonialism and apartheid.”

The decision comes as student encampments spread across Spanish university campuses, echoing calls made around the world for universities to end institutional ties with complicit companies and Israeli universities.

Trinity College Dublin has also pledged to end financial ties with Israeli companies after students held a five-day encampment at the university, while Queen’s University Belfast is to divest from companies named by the UN Human Rights Council for “carrying out listed activities in relation to Palestine”.

Meanwhile, clashes have continued between students protesting at the University of Amsterdam and police.

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com