Fifteen academics from various educational institutions across Belgium are calling for an academic boycott of the State of Israel. ‘Belgian universities must stop hiding behind weak arguments unworthy of an academic institution,’ demands Gert Van Hecken of Antwerp University (UAntwerpen). ‘They should stop their collaboration with Israeli institutions.’ The appeal comes as 3,400 Israelis call for international sanctions on Israel to force a ceasefire.
‘Our demand is in line with the petition signed by more than 3,400 Israeli citizens calling to impose sanctions on Israel at all levels. We continue to ask our educational institutions to stop all partnerships with Israeli universities and institutions,’ says Gert Van Hecken, senior lecturer at the Institute for Development Policy (UAntwerpen), in an open letter.
‘We want them to cut ties until there is a ceasefire. Moreover, Israel must first become a democracy without apartheid politics,’ Van Hecken continues. ‘A democracy where everyone is an equal citizen regardless of faith, ethnicity or origin. We want to exert pressure in a peaceful way.’
‘(Israeli) society is being led to the abyss by a policy of ethnic cleansing and military occupation,’ the letter reads. It is signed by at least one academic from every Flemish university and the Francophone Brussels Free, the ULB.
‘Expressing social justice but not acting on it isn't right’
The open letter supports Belgian student protests, which are also demanding an end to cooperation with Israeli universities. ‘Propagating values such as social justice as a university, yet remaining passive about it, that is not right,’ the senior lecturer continues. ‘These values must be acted upon.’