Education

Trinity students’ union vows to continue protest until all demands regarding Israeli ties are met

Students at University College Cork threaten to escalate action if similar demands are not met

Protesters outside Trinity College in Dublin where students are taking part in an encampment protest over the Gaza conflict. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Jack White
Tue May 7 2024 - 12:06

Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) has vowed to continue its encampment until all of its demands regarding the university’s links to Israel are met in full, while students at University College Cork have threatened to escalate their campus protests.

The Trinity campus in Dublin city centre, which hosts the Book of Kells, has been closed to the public since Friday night when students erected tents near the tourist attraction in protest against TCD’s ties to Israel.

Following a meeting with the protesters on Monday, the university conceded to a number of demands saying it would divest from Israeli companies that feature on a United Nations Human Rights Council list of companies involved in illegal Israeli settlements, three of which the university’s endowment fund invests in.

The university also committed to set up a taskforce to explore engagement with Israeli institutions, while also identifying eight places for Gazan scholars to study at TCD.

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The university also condemned the “onslaught on Gaza”.

However, protesters have called for a cut to all ties with Israel, including other investments, and business arrangements with Israeli suppliers.

They have also demanded the university to rescind its €214,000 fine for financial losses incurred by disruptive protests throughout the year.

“We are committed to continuing our peaceful encampment until all of our demands are met in full, which includes the retroactive amnesty of students involved in protests on campus and the rescinding of the €214,000 bill imposed on the student’s union,” TCDSU said in a statement. The union said these issues will be explored further in ongoing negotiations.

It said the university’s decision to treat the protest as an internal matter, and not involve gardaí, will allow protesters to enter a “new phase of the encampment”, where more can participate in the protest “without fear of academic or legal retribution”.

Students encamped in TCD in protest at the university’s ties with Israel will stay “indefinitely, until our demands are met”, a spokesman for the group said.

Meanwhile, University College Cork’s Students’ Union (UCCSU) has threatened to escalate protest action if similar demands are not met.

In an open letter to UCC president John O’Halloran, the union said it has tried to engage with the university in an effort to get it to join the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

The union has staged rallies and a walkout in recent months, urging the university to take a public stance on the crisis in Gaza.

“Unfortunately, all of our actions to date have been met with silence or excuses citing the wish of the university to remain ‘politically neutral’,” the letter reads.

“We believe that silence in the face of injustice is siding with the oppressor; thus we call on UCC as a leading global change maker to use its voice to call for an end to this injustice,” the union said.

The union is calling on UCC to issue a statement “condemning Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians”.

It is also calling for a commitment to not host “symbolic visits” of Government officials until the Government commits to sanctioning Israel or until the Occupied Territories Bill is enacted.

[ Trinity College Dublin protest: What links does the Irish university have to Israel? ]

Among other demands from UCCSU is to cut ties with Israeli institutions in line with the BDS movement, and to offer support to Palestinian scholars.

“We urge you to please respond to these demands as soon as possible,” the letter reads.

“If we do not receive a satisfactory response to these demands by close of business this Friday, we will have no choice but to escalate to further action.”

Jack White

Jack White

Jack White is a reporter for The Irish Times

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