group of students at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B) has urged the institute to rethink its ties with Israeli universities in the wake of the Middle Eastern country's deadly assault on Gaza.
Flagging a recent invite from IIT-B's student council to a webinar on research opportunities at Israel's Bar-Ilan University, the Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle (APPSC), a student organisation, called the institute's collaboration with Israeli institutes 'concerning'. It also shared an email sent to the student council, which asked for reconsidering the institute's partnership with varsities in Israel.
The appeal comes in the backdrop of widespread campus protests across the globe, particularly in the United States, where students demanded that their respective varsities divest from Israel. In India, student bodies at Ashoka University in Haryana and NALSAR University of Law in Hyderabad have also made similar demands to the respective varsity administrations.
In a post on X on Monday, APPSC wrote, “Despite the ongoing genocide of Palestinians by Israel, it's concerning to see the IIT-B administration continuing collaborations with Israeli universities. We must stand against injustice and ensure that our partnerships align with our values of human rights for all.” Students are calling for reconsidering and divesting from any collaborations or exchanges with Israeli universities. Especially when the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice have deemed Israel's war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank illegal and genocidal, read another post by the group.
Conceding that disassociating with Israeli universities is a 'complex issue', an IIT-B student urged the student council to have an 'open and honest' discussion on the institute's role in supporting Israel's actions in the region. “Israeli universities, many of which have been closely linked to state policies and actions in the occupied Palestinian territories, stand in direct opposition to the values of justice, equality and human dignity that we hold dear,” read the mail sent by the student to the council.
This isn't the first time that the war in the Middle East reverberated at the IIT-B. In November last year, two academic events on the issue at the campus attracted heated reactions from the students and activists across the political divide. A documentary screening and virtual talk by theater artist Sudhanva Deshpande at the institute was panned for “promoting violence and armed conflict” and resulted in a complaint to the police and a protest outside the institute. The authorities cancelled a lecture by writer Achin Vanaik, after he was called a 'Hamas supporter' on social media. This led to criticism from a section of students, who complained of “intimidation” and “loss of academic freedom” on campus.
The controversy prompted the institute's administration to issue sweeping guidelines, mandating that inviting external speakers and screening documentaries, even for academic purposes, will need the authorities' nod.
