We stand with Palestine

At the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, more than 400 academics, staff, students and associates are outraged by the worsening genocide in Gaza, Palestine.

We call for the following urgent global interventions: An immediate ceasefire; a permanent solution to the crisis in Gaza and the West Bank; an end to Israel’s apartheid regime; and an end to the support for the genocide provided by the US, UK, EU and many others.

The scale of the carnage and the escalation of human rights violations, all committed by Israel with impunity, are unprecedented.

The South African parliament has overwhelmingly voted in favour of the expulsion of Israel’s ambassador, as have many other countries. President Cyril Ramaphosa has referred Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the International Criminal Court to investigate Israel for war crimes committed in Gaza.

This is all long overdue, and the spirit of outrage is spreading more each day, as blatant massacres of thousands of Palestinians unfold before our eyes.

Whichever way the Hamas-led resistance on October 7 is argued by Israel and its Western allies, and regardless of our own sorrow for any loss of innocent life, the cause is glaringly obvious: a relentless, violent occupation leaving Palestinians trapped in an open-air “pressure-cooker” prison for decades.

In its counterattack, purportedly aimed at Hamas but reflecting an apartheid-era ideology of collective punishment, the Israel Defense Forces destroyed hospitals and emergency support infrastructure, and cut supplies of water, food, medicines, electricity and fuel, making the lives of Palestinians even more unbearable.

We are proud that UJ could support the call for an academic boycott in 2011, by cutting ties with Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, due to that institution’s role in Israel’s occupation of Palestine.

As we write, matters are degenerating quickly and with tragic, devastating consequences for thousands of Palestinian people, women and children. Israel’s behaviour demands an urgent intervention from the world in solidarity with the Palestinian people — now more than ever.

Academics, staff, students and associates, University of Johannesburg