Ghent University suspends academic cooperation with Israel, protesters demand total boycott and continue sit-in

by Zomaarwat

17 comments

  1. >Under pressure from pro-Palestinian activists and after new advice from its own human rights committee, Ghent University has decided to stop all current collaborations with Israeli universities, colleges and other research institutions.

    >shows [The committee’s advice ](https://www.ugent.be/nl/actueel/bijlagen/cmduo-advies-en-overzicht.pdf)that all current collaborations are problematic. This means that the institutions directly or indirectly violate human rights, or have close ties with the Israeli regime and thus contribute to the war in Gaza. For the first time, assessments were made per institution, not per research group.

    >**Rector Rik Van de Walle** [**announced in a nightly announcement** ](https://www.ugent.be/nl/actueel/persberichten/stopzetting-samenwerking-israelische-partners-31-mei)**that he is taking steps to stop the collaborations. This had** [**already happened for 3 institutions** ](https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2024/05/16/ugent-wil-samenwerkingen-met-israelische-instellingen-stopzetten/)**, after persistent protests. A total of 18 collaborations have now been or will be terminated. Ghent University also calls on Europe to expel Israel from the association agreement.**

    >The activists responded positively to Ghent University’s decision, but demanded more to stop the occupation of the UFO building. It has been going on for over 3 weeks now. The protest escalated last week, after which rector Rik Van de Walle ordered an eviction. It didn’t get that far, a negotiation was started. The rector promised a stricter policy .

    >**”We demand that Ghent University also stop collaborations with 6 Israeli companies.** They also contribute to the war, the constant violations of human rights and the suffering in Gaza. We will continue until our demands are met,” the activists say.

    >Ghent University has not yet responded to the renewed demand from occupiers. Soon there will be a Board of Directors. Campaigners and staff members are asking for the issue to be discussed in depth. It is still unclear whether that will happen.

  3. Ah yes, the vile human rights breaking research of, *checks notes* “autism, Alzheimer’s, water purification and sustainable agriculture”. Truly the worst of the worst /s

    And now the people who protested arent even happy yet, and demand something else? Give someone a hand, and they will take your whole arm…

  4. This is what happens when you give em a finger, should have let the cops clear the building when they tried to take offices and got violent instead of canceling cancer research. These anti-intellectual sgudents have no idea of what damage they are doing. Absolutely disgusting blind racism.

  5. Ffs. Bunch of idiots. They were working on research on Alzheimers & water purification. Do not bow for stupidity like this. This academic research would in no way aid the Israeli military. Grave error by UGent.

  6. Belgium, the country where minorities can dictate the life of the majority.

  8. Can’t blame the students. They are just young, naive and brainwashed. The fact UGent actually gives in to them is what makes me cringe. The loud minority wins again. I expected at least some critical thinking from UGent here…

  10. UGent also has/had 2 bilateral agreements with Palestinian universities. Do these remain in place?

  11. Anti-intellectuelen. Het moet maar eens je leven zijn dat van dat kankeronderzoek afhangt.

  13. remember: Israel is the country with the MOST UN resolutions against it, with effectively no sanctions.

    countries like Iran or Russia are so heavily sanctioned that people cannot do a simple bank transaction to the external world. that means you cannot even buy winrar, LOL. let alone whatever your country needs.

    you think Iran and Russia deserve it? cool ! do the same to Israel.

    do you know a better merit for morality than UN resolutions?

    UN security counsel resolutions are useless, because of the US veto power.

    edit: i was planning to make a new reddit account. having “amir” in your username and leaving such comments doesn’t go too well together. i’m gonna make a Maarten or something.

  14. I seriously doubt that any of these protesters even know what they are protesting for. Just parroting what they’ve been brainwashed to say by TikTok. But now they can give themselves a little pat on the back because they stopped collaboration on autism research.

  15. Great that they now pretend the university wasn’t in the wrong earlier, because now there is “new advice”. It’s a cheap way out, but it should also stop the pro-zionist crowd from going “omg it’s just cancelling!!!!”, as there seems to be “sudden evidence” against those universities…

  16. Hamas supporters going with extreme measures, what’s new

  17. I was so happy when I saw the 3rd word. The rest of the sentence was a disappointment though.

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