Embassy criticises Trinity decision to divest from Israeli investments
Israeli Embassy in Ireland criticised Trinity College Dublin's decision to allow a 'small minority of students attempt to dictate university policy without regard to wider consequences'. Picture: Sam Boal/Collins Photos
The Israeli Embassy in Ireland has criticised Trinity College Dublin's decision to allow a "small minority of students attempt to dictate university policy without regard to wider consequences", after the university agreed to divest from Israeli investments.
The embassy also claimed pro-Palestinian protests on the grounds of the university were not "peaceful" but "extreme and obstructive" and an "attack" against everything Israeli.
The five-day encampment resulted in the closure of Trinity to the public and a blockade of the Book of Kells. Up to 70 tents were erected by more than 100 students on the campus, who wanted the college to cut all ties with businesses and institutions in Israel.
On Wednesday, following talks between senior management and the protestors, the university announced it would divest from Israeli investments that appear on the UN blacklist, provide scholarships to Gazan students and set up a taskforce.
However, the Israeli Embassy on Friday said it was "alarming that this respected institution of learning appears to have capitulated to the extreme behaviour of a small minority of activists who have chosen to pursue a campaign of discrimination and de-legitimisation against Israel, while completely disregarding the consequential effects of their actions."
In a statement, it added the students had "clearly" aligned themselves with an anti-Israel narrative and pursued actions that "go far beyond questioning or criticising Israeli policy".
The embassy criticised the statements released by Trinity on Wednesday, saying they contained "inaccuracies."
It claimed the university's wish to "preserve academic freedom" was difficult to accept, as Trinity had seemed to allow "a small minority of students attempt to dictate university policy without regard to wider consequences".
Additionally, the embassy claimed there had been "no finding of so-called 'genocide'" against Israel when it came to Trinity's statement supporting the International Court of Justice's findings.
It further criticised Trinity's wish to engage with its Jewish staff and students, saying by allowing it to disrupt campus life and promote anti-Israeli and anti-Zionist rhetoric, it "essentially condones it and allows for a hostile atmosphere to develop to the detriment of Jewish and Israeli students and staff at the university".
It also said the college's decision to review academic links with Israeli entities should be carried out with "utmost caution and with due regard to the potential outcomes" involved for both countries.
Meanwhile, students and postgraduate workers disrupted an address made by Maynooth University's President on Friday at the Sociological Association of Ireland annual conference.
It was held at the foyer of the School of Education building where the group will be holding a sit-in at the location for the rest of the day as they demand immediate action on Palestinian genocide from the university president and administration.
They urged the college to take a "firm stance against the genocide being committed and to sever ties with the occupying Israeli state and complicit companies."
In a letter read out to President Leinonen, the group urged the college to "condemn the genocide in Gaza, make a binding committment to the principles of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and the academic boycott of Israeli institutions" and stressed the need for the college to follow in Trinity's footsteps.
They also asked the insitution to provide scholarships for 100 displaced Palestinian students and scholars and severe ties with Intel.
The group vowed to esclate disruptive actions until the college made "a good faith committment towards their demands."
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