Academics for Palestine (AfP) welcomes today’s historic decision by Trinity College Dublin (TCD) to sever all institutional and commercial links with Israeli organisations and universities as an important step towards “rejecting the normalisation of Israel’s decades-long occupation, apartheid, ethnic cleansing and genocide” against the people of Palestine.
The decision follows a vote by Trinity’s governing body (Board) to approve the recommendations of the Taskforce established as part of the agreement to end the student Gaza solidarity encampment on the university campus in May 2024.
Due to Israel’s egregious and ongoing systemic human rights violations, as reflected in the rulings of the International Court of Justice, the Taskforce recommended that Trinity should:
- Not enter any new education or research collaborations with Israeli institutions;
- Divest fully from all Israeli companies;
- No longer use any Israeli suppliers;
- Join with like-minded universities to push for an end to EU research collaboration with Israel.
The Taskforce comprised 26 members including students, staff unions and senior leadership, and was chaired by Mary Irvine, former President of the High Court.
“This is a significant day for Trinity and for Irish-Palestinian solidarity, and reflects the resolve of student and staff campaigners” said Dr David Landy of Academics for Palestine and Trinity’s Department of Sociology. “However, it is difficult to feel glad when Israel’s genocide in Palestine continues. Trinity’s delay in acting has led to the university entering into three new research projects with Israeli partners over the past year, some of which will continue until 2029.”
“Nonetheless, every step towards rejecting the normalisation of Israel’s decades-long occupation, apartheid and genocide is to be celebrated.”
Trinity’s decision places it amongst the increasing number of universities that are heeding the call of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) movement to isolate Israeli universities, whose provision of ideological and material support for Israel’s war crimes and apartheid regime are well documented.
Academics for Palestine commends all of the work that TCD-BDS, AfP-TCD, TCD Students’ Union, and the college’s staff unions have done over the past ten years to bring about this decision by the university.
Academics for Palestine urges all third level institutions on the island of Ireland to urgently follow suit. We reiterate the calls we have been making since 2014 — and in particular in our ongoing advocacy and correspondence to university presidents since the start of the Israeli genocide in Gaza in October 2023 — for universities across Ireland to cut all ties with Israeli institutions.
We repeat the demands we have made to institutions such as the University of Galway, Dublin City University, University College Dublin, the University of Limerick and University College Cork who have shamefully established or maintained collaborations with Israeli institutions since October 2023, and we call on them to expedite reviews of those partnerships and commit to ending all relationships. Some Irish universities such as Maynooth University have confirmed that they have no institutional partnerships or research projects with Israeli institutions, and no investments in Israel or in arms manufacturing companies. We likewise call on them to commit to maintaining this position as policy, while in the case of institutions such as Queen’s University Belfast, who pledged to undergo certain divestment processes from Israeli and UN-blacklisted companies, we urge them to immediately and fully cut all ties with Israel.
Academics for Palestine also calls on Irish third level institutions to pressure the European Commission to immediately suspend Israel’s participation in Horizon Europe, the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation. We call on the Irish Universities Association to join counterpart associations in other EU member states (as well as the Irish government) in demanding an immediate suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
Israel’s genocide and starvation campaign in Gaza has continued for over 600 days now, the Israeli military massacres of Palestinians seeking food and aid continue to mount every day, and there is no time for continued equivocation on the part of any Irish or European institution.
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