Protest in solidarity with Palestine led by Bristol University staff outside Senate House

Today (Thursday 10th October) several staff and students stood in solidarity with Palestine outside Senate House, calling for the university to cut its ties with companies arming Israel.

Both staff and students of the university gathered to highlight their disappointment with “the institution’s continued complicity in Israel’s occupation of Palestine.”

Five staff, and former staff members, dedicated to Palestinian liberation, spoke out demanding the university to divest, and cut ties with the arms industry. The protest was led by the “University of Bristol Staff Stand with Palestine.” 

Organisers handed out leaflets to students which read: “Bristol uni invests in genocide, Bristol uni is complicit in genocide; Israel has destroyed every university in Gaza, there can be no neutrality during genocide.”

The protesters demanded transparency from the university, divestment from companies profiting from the occupation, and a comprehensive arms embargo.

Dr Eldin Fahmy, a senior lecturer of policy studies at Bristol University, stated how a UK advocacy and research group estimated that the University of Bristol is one of the two biggest partners of companies facilitating Israel’s occupation of Palestine.

Dr Fahmy urged the university to protect its reputation as an institution, condemning their partnership and engagement with companies facilitating and profiting from Israel’s occupation of Palestine.

He called on the university to be transparent with staff and students about the nature of its investments and partnerships. 

Speakers highlighted how the University of Bristol has received over £92,212,000 from its partnerships within the defence industry since 2008, thus “benefiting from the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.” 

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Student protesters criticised the university for prioritising business interests over student and staff wellbeing, with previous student protests being met with aggression from university security. 

A student, who was part of last year’s encampment in the Royal Fort Gardens, said “They are actively arming a genocidal state while teaching us students about modules on Genocide.” They added: “This place (referring to the university) gets me so angry and makes me feel betrayal.

“The university will not even name Palestine, and names it the ‘Israel-Gaza conflict’, when it is a genocide.”

Jess Whitney, a senior library assistant at the university, discussed the environmental impact of Israel’s actions in Palestine, emphasising the environmental degradation of Palestinian land due to the use of hazardous materials, such as white phosphorus and asbestos, which have contaminated Palestinian land and ecosystems; making the land physically uninhabitable for future generations of Palestinians. 

Jess highlighted the magnitude of the carbon footprint from the conflicts in Palestine with emissions from the Gaza conflict, in just the first two months emitting over 281,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide.

She condemned the university for “priding itself on working towards sustainability” but “creating mass carbon emissions while slaughtering thousands of people.” 

The protest ended with academic Professor Ron Mendel avowing: “We are out here today as we remember the dead, we cherish their lives, we pay homage to them and we must never forget.”

A University of Bristol spokesperson said: “We support the right to freedom of expression and to engage in lawful, peaceful protest and understand the deeply held concerns that many in our community feel about the situation in Israel, Gaza and Lebanon.

“The university’s association with a wide variety of organisations helps drive innovative research and improves our students’ future careers. We undertake due diligence checks on each partnership to make sure we are using our expertise in compliance with UK law to influence positive change.”

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