Gaza Genocide: 362 Students & Faculty Of NALSAR University Write To Admin To Cut Ties With Israeli Universities

A total of 362 signatories, including 275 students, 70 Alumni and 12 Faculty Members of the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR) University of Law, Hyderabad have written to the university administration asking it to cut existing ties with two Israeli universities – Tel Aviv University and the Radzyner School of Law – as part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, to condemn Israel's attack on Palestine.

"As of today, there is not one University left standing in Gaza. All universities in Gaza are now dust and debris. The resounding silence of Israeli universities in defending Palestine people's basic right to education, let alone 'academic freedom', and failure to strike a strong note against the Israeli government's onslaught on Palestine's universities is very telling of the legitimacy of their claim to 'academic freedom'," the letter of condemnation stated.

The latest death toll stands at 37,980 Palestinians and 1,139 people who have been killed in Israel since October 7, according to reports by Al-jazeera.

The letter adds that "Israel is guilty of Palestinian deaths by hunger and malnutrition. Israel has not only repeatedly deployed weapons of wide-scale impact, utterly lacking any precision and hinting at intentional attacks directed at civilians, but also continuously violated its international obligations to not cause harm to the humanitarian needs of the occupied population," the student body said that "it is in this backdrop that we feel compelled to assess the role of academic institutions and call for a complete dissociation with all Israeli institutions involved, directly or indirectly, by action or omission, with the 'genocide' in Gaza."

Notably, NALSAR continues to have International Academic Exchange Programme MoUs with two Israeli Universities: (a) The Radzyner School of Law, Reichman University, Israel and (b) The Buchmann School of Law, Tel Aviv University, Israel.

Arguments pertaining to the negligible consequence of severing ties with these universities on their academic prospects are myopic to the extent that they ignore the role academic boycott plays not just in increasing international pressure in global academia but also the commitment to 'Academic Freedom,' a freedom that entails freedom for all people, the letter stated.

Recently, the International Court of Justice has directed Israel to immediately stop its military offensive operations in Palestine's Rafah. The Court passed the order on an application filed by the Republic of South Africa.

The Court, with a majority of 13:2 votes, directed the following provisional measure: "The State of Israel shall, in conformity with its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and in view of the worsening conditions of life face by civilians in the Rafah Governorate:

Immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part."