Demands

This text is mainly taken from the PACBI key documents, available on the BDS website [1].

Israel, as the Occupying Power of Palestine, bears responsibility for the occupation enforced on these territories as well as any of its manifestations (colonies, wall, siege, house demolitions, etc.), including the grave violations of international law outside the realm of occupation, such as forcible displacement, denial of refugee rights, and the crime of apartheid. A tragic toll surpassing 34,000 people have been killed only in Gaza in the last 6 months and the ongoing and non-stop carpet bombing of the Gaza strip has not spared any building. Houses, hospitals, schools, universities... nothing escaped the air strikes of unprecedented violence and intensity. The 1.7 million survivors have fled several times from the north and center, seeking refuge in the south, notably at Rafah. But in reality, no place in Gaza is safe. Moreover, hunger and severe malnutrition are widespread in the Gaza Strip, where some 2.2 million Palestinians are facing severe shortages resulting from Israel's destruction of food reserves and severe restrictions on the delivery of food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies. Aid trucks and Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid have been the target of Israeli fire. A situation of genocide, according to Michael Fakhri, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food.

Academic institutions are a key part of the ideological and institutional scaffolding of Israel's regime of occupation, colonialism and apartheid against the Palestinian people. For decades, Israeli universities have played a key role in planning, implementing and justifying Israel's occupation and apartheid policies, while maintaining a close relationship with the Israeli military. Tel Aviv University, for example, has developed tens of weapon systems and the “Dahiya doctrine”, a military doctrine advocating the disproportionate use of force in reprisals against civilian areas used as a base for attack, with the aim of deterrence. It was employed by the Israeli military in committing war crimes against Palestinian and Lebanese civilians [2].

The academic boycott of Israel shines a spotlight on the role that Israeli universities play in the colonial oppression of Palestinians. It aims at putting public pressure on institutions and companies to stop being complicit in maintaining Israeli apartheid and is supported by thousands of academics across the world and many academic associations. The academic boycott is an institutional boycott, it targets institutions and complicities. It does not target individuals, it does not target academics themselves.

EPFL is engaged in the normalization of this war by ignoring this oppression, which can be rephrased as an acceptance of the status quo. We cannot allow the erasure of the palestinian struggle in our discourses as this follows Israel's attempts to whitewash its violations of international law and human rights, which takes form as a re-branding. It also manifests as Israel presenting itself as normal, even “enlightened”, through an intricate array of relations and activities encompassing hi-tech, cultural, legal, LGBT, and other, realms. People of conscience in the international community of scholars and intellectuals have historically shouldered the moral responsibility to fight injustice. In the spirit of international solidarity, moral consistency and resistance to injustice and oppression, we urge EPFL to remember that history is witness to our actions, and that supporting the oppressed is a noble and humanitarian act.

EPFL has already voiced its opposition to discrimination and racism by, for example, supporting and organizing events claiming so. The creation of a space free of racism should also imply a firm rejection of any link with an apartheid regime and we therefore urge EPFL to do so in an effort of consistency. The boycotting of Israeli institutions is a signal in favor of equal rights for all people living in Israel/Palestine, regardless of their ethnic or religious origin, sex, gender or sexual orientation. It is a statement against racism.

EPFL plays a central role in today's technological landscape. The parts designed there, and the knowledge it teaches, have a tangible impact on, among other things, the weapons used in Israeli apartheid. Indeed, in addition to the moral imperative of not supporting a state that massacres the Palestinian population, we must prevent the production of technology and knowledge from being used in Israel's colonial and racial war against the Palestinian people.

In accordance with the PACBI and the BDS guidelines we therefore urge the administration of EPFL to boycott and work towards the cancellation of events, activities, agreements, or projects involving Israeli academic institutions or that otherwise promote the normalization of Israel in the global academy, whitewash Israel's violations of international law and Palestinian rights.

1. We demand an end to EPFL censorship and omerta

EPFL is engaged in the normalization of this war by simply ignoring the oppression, and also more actively, by censoring events organized by its students. This is an acceptance of the status quo and we want this normalization to stop.
Lately, we have concerns regarding EPFL's decision to censure its only feminist association, Polyquity, for a conference about femononationalism, only because it mentioned Palestine. This decision seems to have been taken after a small group of students sent a letter about their discomfort. However, EPFL did nothing after numerous students warned them about their own discomfort regarding the unilateral statement of EPFL on its website. This statement does not condemn genocide and did not until recently contain the word Palestine, only to now juxtapose Palestinian victims with Israeli victims. Taking this recent event into consideration, we are even more worried about freedom of speech on campus and the safety and wellbeing of a large part of the student population that has not been heard. We want the right to organize events that support the Palestinian population and their struggle against occupation, without being censored.

More generally, we reject the apolitical stance adopted by EPFL, as it is precisely a political statement. Being the sole warrantors of what is political or not, of what is reasonable or not, is a political statement. This position of control, only reinforces the dominant political ideology and leaves no place for freedom of speech.

We are against Normalisation projects. In accordance with the PACBI call, academic activities and projects involving Palestinians and/or other Arabs on one side and Israelis on the other that are based on the false premise of symmetry between the oppressors and the oppressed or that claim that both colonizers and colonized are equally responsible for the “conflict” are dishonest and morally reprehensible forms of normalization that ought to be boycotted. Far from challenging the unjust status quo, such projects contribute to its endurance.
Note: Projects are not considered forms of normalization if the Israeli party in the project recognizes the comprehensive Palestinian rights under international law and the project/activity is one of “co-resistance” rather than co-existence.

EPFL has in the past condemned attacks on other civilian populations and expressed its support for them, but its silence persists on the massacres committed by the Israeli army in Palestine. Academic and charitable initiatives in support of the Ukraine [3], for example, have been authorized on the EPFL campus demonstrating EPFL's commitment to populations affected by conflict. This distinction in the treatment of war-affected populations indicates a strong bias from EPFL. We call on the EPFL management to treat all civilian populations fairly and with integrity, and demand a similar stance towards the Palestinian population.
Furthermore, we want support to be shown and given to the Arab-Muslim community. War does not stop at borders.

2. Academic boycott for Scholars

The success of the academic boycott relies on the consistent and principled practice of individual academics faced with opportunities or invitations to attend conferences organized by Israeli academic institutions. These invitations must be rejected, as by attending conferences in Israel, international academics effectively lend legitimacy to the Israeli colonial project. They affirm that Israeli universities are a normal member of the international academy, and that no special stigma attaches itself to the Israeli academy.

EPFL academics must refrain from publishing in or refereeing articles for academic journals based in Israeli universities, or published in collaboration with Israeli institutions, or granting permission to reprint material published elsewhere in such Israel-based journals. Furtermore, they should not serve as external reviewers for dissertations, writing recommendations or other forms of refereeing such as advising on hiring, promotion, tenure, and grant-making decisions at Israeli universities. The review of academic work of faculty or students in/of Israeli universities on a personal basis are not conflicting with the boycott guidelines, so long as their names are not used by those universities in any way to gain legitimacy. EPFL Academics should withdraw their “stamp of approval” and join the academic boycott.

All academic visits or fact-finding missions that receive funding from Israeli government or from Israeli lobby groups should be boycotted. On the other hand, balanced, independent fact-finding missions, even those that include meetings with complicit Israeli academic institutions, are not boycottable, provided that no institutional link of any sort is established with Israeli institutions. An example of that is that EPFL scientists in the Laboratory for Biological Geochemistry have worked on the project “Northern Red Sea corals pass heat stress test with flying colors” (Transnational Red Sea center at EPFL). This is funded by Israeli government [4].

3. Institutional EPFL academic boycott

We want the boycott of Research and Development activities that fall into these broad categories:

1. Among academic institutions – Institutional cooperation agreements with Israeli universities or research institutes. These agreements, concluded between international and Israeli academic institutions, typically involve the conduct of joint research.
2. Among the Israeli government and other governments or foundations/institutions. Researchers in such projects could be based at U.S., European or other universities.
3. Among corporations and academic institutions – Research and development activities on behalf of international corporations involving contracts or other institutional agreements with departments or centers at Israeli universities.
   A form of unacceptable collaboration resulting in the instrumentalisation of EPFL research, is the collaboration between the Brain Mind Institute research centre at EPFL and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem [5]. This university is the training ground for Israeli army officers [6] and it should be inconceivable for a university that wishes to remain at the very least, neutral in its work, to collaborate with them.
   Furthermore, EPFL is in the EuroTech Universities Alliance, sharing seats with Technion the Israel institute of technology [7]. Technion's role as a technical supplier of the apartheid state of Israel's security needs, a role it played in the era of the Haganah, the Zionist self-defense militia that was the forerunner of the Israeli army, cannot be overlooked as they are considered a powerhouse fuelling the Israeli apartheid state's development [8].

These collaborations contribute to covering up the Israeli institutions' complicity and to enhancing their legitimacy as centers of excellence, instead of directly and independently strengthening the research capacity of Palestinian institutions.

Study abroad schemes in Israel for international students must be boycotted. These programs are part of the Israeli propaganda effort, designed to give international students a “positive experience” of Israel, whitewashing its occupation and denial of Palestinian rights. Publicity and recruitment for these schemes through students' affairs offices or academic departments at universities abroad should come to an end.

EPFL should not participate in academic events convened or co-sponsored by Israel, complicit Israeli institutions or their support and lobby groups in various countries. All such academic events, whether held in Israel or abroad, deserve to be boycotted on institutional grounds. Again, the general principle is that an event or project carried out under the sponsorship of or in affiliation with or funding by an official Israeli body or a complicit institution constitutes complicity and therefore is deserving of boycott. The same may apply to support or sponsorship from non-Israeli institutions that serve Israeli propaganda purposes.
An example of an unacceptable event is the ECCV 2022, held in Tel-Aviv, where 16 publications from the EPFL CVLab were accepted [9]. This event goes against the BDS demands and is sponsored by the israeli Army [10].

Funding from Israel or its lobby groups to academic activities/projects must be stopped. All academic projects and activities funded, partially or fully, by Israel or any of its lobby groups are boycottable. Any international academic forum/project that accepts funding from Israel, its lobby groups or complicit institutions is conflicting with the Palestinian academic boycott of Israel.
Note: Mere affiliation of the academic to an Israeli institution does not subject the conference or activity to boycott.

End of boycott

The institutional boycott of Israeli academic institutions should continue until these institutions fulfill two basic conditions:

1. Recognize the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people as enshrined in international law, and
2. End all forms of complicity in violating Palestinian rights as stipulated in international law. This includes discriminatory policies and any role in planning, implementing and/or justifying Israel's human rights and international law violations.

In case it was not clear enough, we take a clear stance against all forms of racism. Our revendications are not directed against individuals and certainly not against Jews in Israel/Palestine or elsewhere. We want EPFL to fight against the Israeli apartheid regime and the companies and institutions that support it. We are fiercely opposed to anti-Semitism, as anti-Semitism is a form of discrimination and must therefore be fought.

EPFL must join the international community and encourage holding Israel accountable for its crimes and breaches of international law in order to bring about the possibility of a just peace. Only with wide support from international civil societies for this non-violent form of resistance to oppression can a better future, anchored in justice, equality and peace, be hoped.

References