University cuts ties with Israel
Action comes amid talk of closing SA embassy in country
THE Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) has officially cut ties with Israel.
TUT’s spokesperson on the issue, Professor Rasigan Maharajh, said that the institution’s council had resolved that it would not forge any ties with Israel or any of its organisations and institutions.
A December 7 press release from TUT stated: “As a progressive university in a democratic South Africa, we want to affirm that TUT will not sign any agreements or enter into scientific partnerships until such time that Israel ends its illegal occupation of Palestinian territory.
“The university will not stand back and accept the violations of the Israeli government when it confines the movement of Palestinian children and youth on their own land and restricts their ability to access education through destroying their schools,” the university added in its statement.
TUT’s press release followed a council resolution on November 24 which incorporated discussions and debates in various faculties, the senate and its institutional forum.
Prior to last month’s resolution, a TUT position paper in May on ties with Israel was formulated. Maharajh was one of the authors of the paper.
“As a ‘people’s university’, TUT is enjoined with the University of Johannesburg, and progressive Palestinian and Israeli academics in further encouraging the international community to comprehensively and consistently boycott all academic institutions in Israel as a contribution to the struggle to end Israel’s illegal occupation and system of apartheid,” said Maharajh.
“As this resolution derives from key constituencies in Gauteng, Limpopo, and Mpumalanga (TUT learning sites and campuses), the government of South Africa should also be emboldened to hear the voice of the people of this country condemning the violent and continued occupation of Palestine,” he added.
However, Israel’s deputy ambassador to South Africa, Ayallet Black, said TUT’s move was surprising.
“As a country that prides itself on freedom of academia, religion, a diverse society and universities that rank high within the top 200 in the world, we are surprised that TUT as an academic institution has shut a basic principle of communication and co-operation,” said Black.
Nevertheless, South African criticism of Israel is growing.
One of the controversial issues to be discussed at the ANC’s 54th national conference in Gauteng from tomorrow to December 20 is the possible downgrading, or even closure, of the South African embassy in Tel Aviv.
“As a constitutional democracy premised on the recognition of human rights, the Republic of South Africa must urgently discuss downgrading the status of its relationship with Israel,” said Maharajh.
The university’s decision to cut all ties with Israel also comes in the wake of strong condemnation from the South African government, and various political and human rights organisations across the country, following US President Donald Trump’s controversial decision to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem while stating that Jeru- salem was the capital of Israel.
Under international law, East Jerusalem is occupied territory and all international embassies have based themselves in Tel Aviv until the final status of Jerusalem is decided in the peace process negotiations.
“The announcement by the Trump regime of its intentions to establish its embassy in Jerusalem further escalates tensions,” Maharajh said.
“As guided by the founding president of the post-apartheid South Africa, Nelson Mandela, who declared ‘We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians’, the Republic of South Africa must also condemn the actions of the Trump regime and work harder at fostering solidarity and co-operation with the peoples of Palestine,” he added.