Students at 30 UK campuses demand end to complicity in Israel apartheid

Students at more than 30 UK universities are taking action on their campuses today “to protest their institutions’ complicity in Israel’s violations of human rights”, according to a press release by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC).

The national day of action occurs during the internationally-observed Israeli Apartheid Week, and as part of PSC’s ongoing “Apartheid Off Campus” campaign, which “seeks to highlight how universities’ investment and partnership policies tacitly support and enable Israel’s ongoing violations of international law and human rights”.

According to PSC, one example being highlighted by students is the University of Manchester’s ongoing investment in the company Caterpillar, “which supplies the armoured bulldozers for the Israeli army to demolish Palestinian homes, schools, olive groves and communities”.

Another example cited is King’s College London, “which has established a partnership with the Israeli Institute of Technology in Haifa, known as the Technion”.

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“This institution collaborates with arms companies on technological endeavours which have seen the creation of remote-controlled bulldozers used to destroy Palestinian homes, as well as the electronic surveillance system used for Israel’s illegal wall in the West Bank,” stated PSC.

“As students, we do not want our tuition fees invested in war and apartheid,” said Emilia Micunovic, chair of the BDS campaign at University of Manchester “and we should have the right to a voice in our institutions’ investment and partnership policies.”

We reject many UK universities’ hypocritical and shallow attempts to appear ‘socially responsible’ whilst funding, facilitating or supporting Israel’s military occupation.

Huda Ammori, campaigns officer of Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said: “Israeli Apartheid Week is an opportunity for us to amplify the voices of the Palestinian people and strengthen our movement which stands in full solidarity with them. The global community has a responsibility to hold Israel to account for its criminal actions, and universities are no exception. Students are doing vital work in highlighting complicity with Israeli apartheid on their campuses.”

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