Tunisian students force university to drop pro-Israel partner
Tunisian students compelled a journalism institute to cut ties with a pro-Israel partner on May 2nd, according to The New Arab. Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS), a political foundation tied to Germany’s governing Christian Democratic Union (CDU), had purportedly expressed support for the Tel Aviv regime in its war on Gaza,
The protest by Tunisian students comes amid a wave of global campus rallies calling for universities to divest from pro-Israel partners.
Dozens of journalism students camped for days outside Manouba’s Institute of Press and Informational Sciences (IPSI) calling for the establishment to end its partnership with the Berlin-based foundation.
Following the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war in October 2023, KAS’ Tel Aviv office had stated: “KAS stands with Israel. Germany stands with Israel.”
In seven months of the war, Israel killed at least 34,596 people in the Gaza Strip according to the Hamas-run Gaza health Ministry’s estimates.
Naming their camp after slain Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, the demonstrators vowed not to leave university premises until all agreements with the “pro-Zionist” KAS were revoked. IPSI’s administration supported their students’ demands and officially cancelled the agreement with KAS on May 2nd.
READ: Top Tunisian journalist receives defamation sentence
Hamida El Bour, director of IPSI, told a local radio station on May 3rd that “we, the staff and professors, share the same position. Since the beginning of this year, partnerships with organisations openly supporting Israel have been terminated,” promising to reschedule exams boycotted by students.
In recent weeks, hundreds of students have held demonstrations at Tunisian universities in solidarity with the Palestinian people, responding to a call from the North African country’s two main student unions.
Students across the world are holding protests against the Gaza war and for their institutions’ divestment from pro-Israel groups, following the lead of students in the US. CNN reported on May 3rd that over 2,100 US students had been arrested since April 18th for demonstrating on university campuses.
Aside from police violence, some US demonstrations have been met with attacks from pro-Israel groups. Most recently, a man is reported to have driven his car into a May 2nd demonstration in Portland, Oregon before pepper spraying anti-war protestors.
The New Arab / CNN
