Rome University students call for academic boycott of Israel. (via l’Espresso)
Rome, June 8 (RHC)-- Anti-war demonstrations continue across Italy while an increasing number of Italian universities are voicing their firm opposition to Israel's massacres in Gaza and the West Bank through boycott campaigns.
Earlier this week, the University of Palermo severed ties with Israeli researchers and universities over the genocidal war on Gaza.
A number of prominent Italian universities have opted to participate in some form of boycott of Israel.
The Palermo University's academic senate suspended an EU student exchange program with Tel Aviv, while announcing that measures aiming to support the Palestinian education system will be taken.
Some university deans and professors have always shown a great interest in Israel's genocidal war on Gaza. Some other less involved academics have been pressed by their students to take a strong position against Israel.
In the past, protests against Israel's brutal occupation were held in university campuses, but never to today's extent.
Enzo Brandi, a former nuclear science researcher, said: "This time Israel has gone way too far. And this has led to a realization among students that something more had to be done."
Also Turin University's academic senate has recently opted not to take part in a call for scientific cooperation with Israel, issued earlier this year, in protest of the skyrocketing number of civilian deaths caused by Israel in Gaza.
Hundreds of university staff in Pisa, Bari, Rome, and, Florence, have asked the university administrations to uphold the fundamental values of humanity and solidarity in the face of the "repugnant massacre that is taking place in the Gaza Strip."
Students at a number of prominent Italian university campuses have set up encampments in solidarity with Palestinians and in protest against Israel's brutal attacks on Gaza.
At Rome's University of La Sapienza students underline that their actions aim to press the university to stop cooperation with Israel and the Italian government to halt arms exports to Tel Aviv.
One student leader spoke out: "The academic boycott is important because universities should be placed on the front line against oppression and discrimination. Maintaining ties with Israel, which for years has been carrying out genocide against the Palestinians, is intolerable for us as it would amount to supporting Israel's policy of violence and war."
In April, over two thousand Italian academics from various Italian universities signed an open letter that reminded the Italian institutions of their obligation to prevent, and not to be complicit in, acts of genocide according to the 1948 UN convention.
