On Sunday night, the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) implementation group of Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) released an open letter sent to Provost Linda Doyle regarding the situation in Gaza.
The letter criticised Doyle for the “complete complete lack of a response from College regarding Israeli war crimes in Palestine”.
“As the Provost, you need to listen to student and staff voices which have been demanding our College to take action”, the letter read.
“Trinity publicly (and rightfully) condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and took various actions in solidarity with the Ukrainian people. Do the Palestinian people not also deserve and require our support?”
“Your silence is deafening. Being neutral in the face of injustice is complicity. The lack of words and action from College is political cowardice”, it continued.
In the letter, the union also called on Doyle as “the leader of our academic institution” to cut ties with 13 Israeli institutions which the letter describes as “complicit in the war industry which brutalises the Palestinian people, and other oppressed peoples around the world”.
The institutions listed in the letter include the Weizmann Institute of Science, which the letter claims “supported the development of Israel’s nuclear arsenal”, and Tel Aviv University which “develops war technology, developed the IDF’s ‘ethical code’, trains lawyers to defend war crimes, sends Pro-Israeli delegations to foreign universities”, says the union.
College declined to comment on the letter.
Last week more than 600 academics, including over 70 from Trinity, signed a letter calling for Irish Universities to cut ties with Israel.
“We call on all universities in Ireland to immediately sever any existing institutional partnerships or affiliations with Israeli institutions”, the letter read.
“Those ties should be suspended until the occupation of Palestinian territory is ended, the Palestinian rights to equality and self-determination are vindicated, and the right of Palestinian refugees to return is facilitated. Anything less at this point amounts to tacit support for crimes against humanity.”
