Global universities sever academic ties with Israel over Gaza war

A growing number of universities and academic bodies worldwide are cutting formal links with Israeli institutions over concerns about their complicity in the Israeli military crimes in Gaza.

The movement, which has gained momentum over the past year, reflects deepening concerns within the global academic community about the ties between Israeli universities, the military, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies.

In 2023, the Federal University of Ceará in Brazil cancelled a planned innovation summit with an Israeli university. This was followed by similar action from a host of institutions across Norway, Belgium, and Spain. The trend has continued into this year, with others, including Ireland’s Trinity College Dublin, following suit.

Most recently, the University of Amsterdam terminated a student exchange program with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Separately, the European Association of Social Anthropologists declared it would cease all collaboration with Israeli academic institutions and urged its members to do the same.

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel stated that Israeli academic institutions are complicit in “Israel’s decades-long regime of military occupation, settler colonial apartheid and now genocide.”

“There is a moral and legal obligation for universities to end ties with complicit Israeli universities,” said Stephanie Adam, a representative for the campaign.