Bristol SU officer signs open letter condemning attack on West Bank University

By Cara Hene, News Digital Editor

The open letter was uploaded on January 9 to Instagram by Elliot Briffa, City and Community Officer of the University of Manchester’s students’ union.

 The co-signatories call on UK universities to ‘sever all ties’ with Israel and organisations that ‘support or justify’ its actions following the attack on Birzeit University.

 The Israeli army stormed the university on January 6 during the day, firing live rounds, sound grenades and tear gas, injuring multiple students, according to Al Jazeera. The attack occurred shortly after a student event in solidarity with Palestinians held in Israeli jails and coincided with a film screening centring on a six-year-old girl killed during the war in Gaza.

The IDF said they acted on intelligence concerning a ‘gathering in support of terrorism’. According to the force, rocks and stones were thrown by hundreds of individuals at Israeli troops, resulting in crowd-control measures and live fire at ‘central violent instigators’.

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Birzeit University said the raid ‘constitutes a flagrant and deliberate violation of the sanctity of universities and educational institutions.’

The open letter, signed by students’ union representatives and officers at 43 British universities opens: ‘This the price that Palestinians pay for daring to seek an education.’

‘Israel’s longstanding genocide of the Palestinian people is a stain on all humanity and we remain outraged at the long, deep and well-documented links between Universities in the UK and the Israeli occupation and oppression of Palestine.’

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They call on UK universities ‘to sever all ties between their institutions and Israel and all the organisations that seek to support or justify the many crimes and atrocities of the Israeli state.’

 Jessie Yeung, Bristol SU’s International Students officer told Epigram that she signed the statement in a personal capacity to express solidarity for those affected, and ‘condemn Israel for their educide, scholasticide, ecocide and genocide.’

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 Yeung said this was particularly important for the University of Bristol due to their links with the defence sector, quoting research by Demilitarise Education which suggests the University has the second largest ties to arms-producing companies in the country by monetary value.

‘I re-affirm the call for divestment and cutting ties with Israeli entities and arms companies,’ the Full Time Officer said.

‘As students, we can't stand by and watch the IDF destroy Birzeit University, the same way they have bombed all universities in Gaza.’

Featured image: Epigram / Ellen Reynolds