ULiège Takes a Historic Stand: Suspending Ties with Israeli Institutions

The University of Liège (ULiège), led by Rectrice Anne-Sophie Nyssen, the Rectoral team, and the members of the University Commission for Guidance and Vigilance on Risky International Relations (CGVRI), has made a historic and courageous decision to suspend institutional collaborations with Israeli universities and companies complicit in the ongoing war crimes and human rights violations against the Palestinian people.

The University of Liège (ULiège) has officially announced its latest decisions concerning scientific collaborations with Israeli universities, in light of the ongoing war on Gaza and the repeated, unacceptable violence committed by the Netanyahu government against civilians. Following the recommendations of the University Commission for Guidance and Vigilance on Risky International Relations (CGVRI) and after a thorough case-by-case analysis, ULiège decided:

• For the EU Horizon Program:
• For Tel Aviv University:
• For Elbit Systems (arms company):
• For Hebrew University of Jerusalem:

The University reaffirms that this is not a general boycott of Israeli universities. Individual collaborations (publications, conferences) remain part of academic freedom. ULiège stands firmly as a place of open knowledge-sharing and supports Israeli academics who bravely oppose the illegal and brutal actions of their government.

However, ULiège makes it clear that it will suspend institutional collaborations with entities that repeatedly or directly participate in grave violations of international law or human rights. A new methodology for assessing risky collaborations will soon be presented to the University Board and made available to the entire academic community.

Rectrice Anne-Sophie Nyssen calls on researchers to consult CGVRI when planning any potentially risky collaborations.

Saluting the Students and All Mobilized Voices:

We salute the courage and determination of the students who mobilized relentlessly for months, the rectrice and the entire rectoral team, and the CGVRI members whose tireless work led to this decision. This is a victory for everyone who stood up for justice and for Palestine, often against silence, indifference, or pressure.

Our Call for Stronger Actions and Visible Solidarity:

Now is the time to go further. We, members of the university community, call on ULiège to raise Palestinian flags on our university buildings as a clear symbol of solidarity with the Palestinian people and their legitimate struggle for freedom, dignity, and self-determination. Support must be visible, loud, and unwavering, in line with the values of justice, human rights, and international law.

We demand concrete action and academic solidarity with Palestinian universities, students, and scholars, who have been targeted, bombed, displaced, and silenced by Israeli apartheid. ULiège must:

• Establish direct support programs, scholarships, and research collaborations with Palestinian universities and academic institutions;
• Provide safe academic refuge for Palestinian scholars and students displaced by Israeli aggression;
• Strengthen institutional ties with academic voices bravely resisting Israeli occupation and apartheid.

A University That Stands for Justice:

ULiège must remain a university of values—a place where knowledge and science serve justice, peace, and human dignity. Academic freedom can never be a shield for complicity in apartheid, genocide, or colonial oppression. We salute this decision by our University leadership. It took time, but history will remember where universities stood in the face of such crimes.

Liège City and Belgium Lead by Example – But the Government Must Do More:

We proudly remind everyone that Liège city has officially boycotted Israel since 2014, refusing any complicity in apartheid and genocide.

Nationally, while Belgium has declared it does not send weapons to Israel, this remains far below what is morally expected today. The Belgian government must go further:

• Cut all diplomatic, economic, and military ties with Israel and sanction it;
• Officially recognize Israeli apartheid and ongoing war crimes;
• Align with international law and stand with the oppressed Palestinian people.

Personal Reflection:

Personally, I must share that I have struggled deeply over the past two years with the passive position of ULiège regarding Israel and the painful silence of many academics who didn’t dare even express an opinion on this topic. There were moments when I lost hope in the ability of a public university—especially in Europe, the heart of the Western colonial project, in a country that hosts NATO’s headquarters—to ever stand up against Zionism, colonialism, and American hegemony.

I was also shocked by the position of Dutch and German universities, many of my past scientific collaborators which have shown complete submission to Israel, often attacking students and staff who dared to speak up for Palestine. But today, I feel proud to belong to Belgium, proud of my city Liège, and proud of my university ULiège. For the first time in a long while, I feel glad to be part of these communities, who chose to stand for justice, for Palestine, and for the oppressed in the post-human world.

Whoever examines the events in Gaza through the lens of divine laws understands that the downfall of the occupiers is not far off. What we are witnessing is not merely an escalation of oppression, crimes, and tyranny, but a rapid shift in the nature of the Israeli state—from a secular apartheid entity with a professional army to a biblical revelation state, driven by Talmudic teachings that justify slaughtering its enemies like the Amalekites. This new, ethnic, and racist "Israel" has no future. Its ideological and eschatological foundations—rooted in division, extremism, and a desire to trigger Armageddon, much like evangelical fantasies—are pushing it toward inevitable collapse. It is a society convinced that biblical injunctions and divine wars will solve its failure to coexist with Palestinians. But Israel will not survive this context.

The state is crumbling from within, plagued by bitter divisions, internal fragmentation, and irreversible decline. Few truly grasp this reality—especially Europeans, still trapped in Holocaust guilt and unable to see the occupation state for what it is. A society that embraces apocalypse as a political vision is doomed to fracture. Turning into a theocratic, religious state will only deepen Israel’s economic and social crises. It is a sinking ship—a Titanic—and the time has come to accelerate its end to save both Palestinians and Jews from this dangerous and delusional project before it drags Europe into catastrophe.

From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.

Thanks to all Palestinian cause supporters!

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