Dal faculty union calls for termination of academic ties with Israeli institutions

The union representing faculty at Dalhousie University has passed a motion calling on the University of Halifax to end its formal partnerships with Israeli academic institutions and to boycott and divest from them “until Israel ends its policies of military occupation and apartheid.”

The motion was recently adopted at the Dalhousie Faculty Association’s annual general meeting, where another motion was also adopted condemning all forms of violence against civilians and Israeli attacks on schools and other educational institutions in Gaza.

“We must do everything we can to stop this … attack on education,” said Mohammed El Hazzouri, an associate professor at Dalhousie University who helped draft the two motions.

On Thursday, Israel attacked a school in Gaza. It was said to be a targeted attack on Hamas fighters. Dozens of people were killed. The school is run by the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency and housed 6,000 displaced people.

In May, Reuters reported that, according to official Palestinian sources, all 12 colleges in the Gaza Strip had been destroyed or damaged.

Smoke rises after Israeli attacks on the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG) in Gaza City, October 11, 2023. (Saleh Salem/REUTERS)

El Hazzouri is also a Palestinian refugee who came to Canada 17 years ago. “This affects me personally,” he said. “It’s a generational trauma… it’s a repetition of Israeli actions that have been going on since the 1930s.”

The university union’s boycott and divestment motion is in line with the demands of students at universities such as McGill University in Montreal and the University of Toronto.

An academic boycott would target institutions, not individuals, said Associate Professor Ajay Parasram, who also worked on the motions.

One program Dalhousie currently offers is a four-week exchange program with Tel Aviv University for business and management students. The program includes recreational activities and classes in Israeli culture and business practices, according to the program’s website.

In a statement, Dalhousie said that the interaction with the organizers and participants of the pro-Palestinian camp on campus “has so far been characterized by mutual respect and constructiveness, and that the concerns raised are also fundamentally examined.”

Ajay Parasram is an associate professor at Dalhousie University. He was also part of the group of Dalhousie Faculty Association members who drafted the motions. (Andrew Lam/CBC)

Parasram said boycotts and divestments are peaceful means of putting pressure on the Israeli government.

The requests are “not sufficient in and of themselves, but every small step towards an end to this genocide” must be pursued, Parasram said.

Israel has rejected the accusations of genocide brought by South Africa before the International Court of Justice. In May, Israel told the United Nations Supreme Court that it was doing everything it could to protect civilians during its military operation in Gaza.

At the international level, the Belgian University of Ghent has severed its relations with all Israeli universities and research institutions, citing its human rights policy.

Cathy Conrad is a professor of geography and environmental studies and president of the Faculty Association at Saint Mary’s University. (Andrew Lam/CBC)

The Saint Mary’s University teachers’ union made similar demands that university administration withdraw from investments in companies linked to human rights abuses.

Cathy Conrad, a professor and president of the union, said that unlike Dalhousie, the University of Halifax does not publicly disclose its endowment investments.

“We believe transparency is important. Especially for a university, you have to disclose where you invest your money,” said Conrad.

Saint Mary’s University did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication, but Conrad said the university told the union it was working on disclosing its investments.

On October 7 last year, Hamas-led militants took about 250 hostages as they stormed across the border into Israel, killing about 1,200 people, according to the Israeli government. Since then, Israeli air and ground strikes in Gaza have killed more than 36,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

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