The University of Otago has played a straight bat to a group of academics’ demands to boycott and divest academic and financial ties to Israel.
University of Otago Staff for Justice in Palestine issued their demands at their congress yesterday.
Group member and media studies lecturer Dr Olivier Jutel said he was pleased with the turnout of more than 200 people at the Tuhura Otago Museum lawn.
"A lot of things die out and sustaining people’s energy is very hard, but there is no let-off or let-down in commitment from students involved, the staff involved."
Dr Jutel said just as apartheid South Africa had meant that New Zealand had to cut off cultural, sporting, diplomatic and investment ties with the country, the same needed to be applied to Israel in that "exceptional time of genocide".
Peace and conflict studies co-director Prof Richard Jackson said the stance was necessary in the face of the "brutal truth" of what was taking place in Palestine.
"We hope the declaration will be an inspiration to others and a call to action at a moment when the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians is accelerating at an alarming rate."
An Otago University spokeswoman said: "As our recently adopted statement on institutional neutrality outlines, the university champions free speech and academic freedom".
"The university council and senate also accepted the recommendation of the working group to developing ethical investment and ethical procurement policies, to uphold the values of the university."
Dr Jutel said "ethical investment" was a good first step, but his group was going for "all-out BDS [boycott, divestment and sanction] strategy".
"We don’t want our university promoting institutional ties with Israeli universities.
"That’s different from having kinds of associations with individual academics. But, by and large, the universities are key to the recruitment of IDF [Israel Defence Forces], of creating the legal doctrines and rationale for the war that the IDF pursues."
Dr Jutel was also aware of the Otago University Students’ Association’s coming debate on whether that organisation should have a similar strategy, which emerged after OUSA banned a Domino’s van near tent city during Orientation Week this year.
