Students demand end to ties with Israeli universities

Nearly 3,000 people signed an open letter to Jagiellonian University in Kraków – Poland’s oldest and one of its top universities – demanding that the institution “publicly, firmly and unequivocally condemns Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip and occupation of Palestine” and ends cooperation with Israeli universities and research institutions.

Rectors of universities in Warsaw, Lódz, Gdask, Lublin, as well as the privately-owned SWPS University, received similar letters, the newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza reported.

In the letter to the Jagiellonian University, the signatories, who described themselves as “students, undergraduates, graduates, academics, and scholars”, said they were “appalled by the scale and cruelty of Israeli actions since last October 7, which have reached unprecedented levels in the long and brutal history of the occupation of Palestine”.

The signatories also noted that Israel’s offensive in Gaza has led to the destruction of much of Gaza’s education infrastructure – universities, libraries, and schools – while taking a very heavy human toll.

“At least 95 academics, 5,497 students and pupils, 261 teachers, and school administration staff have been killed, and at least 625,000 school-aged children have been denied access to education for several months,” the letter said.

The signatories demanded that the Jagiellonian University and other Polish universities “immediately cease cooperation with Israeli academic institutions, research centres, and other organisations and companies”, and make public information about which Israeli academic institutions they cooperate with.

The letter also called on Polish universities to “boycott Israeli institutions at the national and international level until the occupation of Palestine ends, recognize the right of Palestinians to equality and self-determination, and recognize the right of return for Palestinian refugees”.

Last week, rallies in support of Palestine took place in front of universities in Kraków and Warsaw. Participants waved Palestinian flags and held placards reading “Don’t teach us to look away”, “Stop the genocide”, “Free Palestine”, and “Since 2023, Israeli soldiers have killed 10,000 children”.

The controversial slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” – which is considered to support the elimination of Israel as a state – also featured at the rally in Kraków, Gazeta Wyborcza reported.

Claim of ‘anti-Jewish propaganda’

The letters and rallies drew criticism over their “language of totalitarianism and exclusion”, wrote Jewish.pl, a website covering Jewish issues in Poland. It called the letters “anti-Jewish propaganda by pro-Palestinian activists”.

The website also said the letters calling on Polish academia to break ties with its Israeli partners “are not based on any reliable sources of information, [and] ignore Palestinian terrorism and its Jewish victims”.

Polish sociologist Wojciech Sadurski said in a post on X that boycotting Israeli academia is misaimed since Israeli universities are “the most pro-Palestinian entities in Israel”.

Nearly 500 individuals, including students, academics, and Jewish leaders such as Poland’s Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich, signed a counter-letter to Polish university rectors, Polish news website Onet reported.

“Reports of atrocities that Israel may have committed during the Gaza campaign should be taken seriously, and compassion for the civilian victims of any war is simply a measure of humanity,” the letter said.

“But the Gaza campaign is a legitimate response to Hamas’ criminal attack, consistent with international law,” it added.