commentary
Now is a crucial moment for students, teachers and rectors to raise the debate on Israel and Gaza to the highest possible level.
Koen VidalHead of foreign affairs
Today at 03:00
At Belgian universities, solidarity actions for Palestine are moving into higher gear. For example, a group of Ghent students is demanding that their rector take concrete actions today to sever ties with Israeli institutions. If these actions are not taken, a three-day occupation of a university building will begin on Monday. New protests are also planned on the Brussels VUB and ULB campuses.
The Belgian actions are part of an international wave of resistance against the attitude of Western governments towards the Israeli attacks on Gaza. The most mediatized student protests are undoubtedly those in the US. Not only because so many students are camping on the campuses of Columbia University and the University of Los Angeles, among others, but also because heavily armed security forces were called in to chase them away. The tensions at the American universities show how incompetent the rectors are in guiding and managing the protest actions. For example, during a hearing in Congress, Columbia Rector Minouche Shafik meekly bowed down to hard-line Republican politicians who demanded that solidarity actions for Gaza be tackled harshly.
The worrying bungling on American campuses could frighten Belgian rectors and encourage them to become tense. That would be a shame. Because this is actually a crucial moment for students, teachers and rectors to raise the debate on Israel and Gaza to the highest possible level.
The stakes of this discussion are enormous. Meanwhile, Israeli violence against Gaza has already cost the lives of 34,600 people, mostly women and children. The International Court of Justice has already ruled that “Israel must do everything possible to avoid genocide.” And the murderous raids by the Hamas militias on October 7 also amount to a war crime and a crime against humanity. What is happening in the Middle East is of historic proportions and it is precisely at such a time that a society needs its universities. It is up to the rectors to be fully open about the university’s cooperation with Israeli partners, to mobilize all the knowledge available in their buildings and to take the justified indignation of their students seriously. A moment to embrace committed students, not to keep them at a distance or push them away.
