Thousands sign letters calling for Polish universities to boycott Israel

Letters signed by thousands of people have been submitted to the rectors of some of Poland’s leading universities calling on them to end cooperation with Israeli institutions due to the situation in Gaza.

In response, hundreds of other students, academics and Jewish leaders have signed a counter-letter opposing such a boycott.

On Wednesday, around 150 people gathered outside the main administrative building of Kraków’s Jagiellonian University – ranked as the country’s best alongside the University of Warsaw – to deliver a letter to the rector.

Many waved Palestinian flags and held placards saying “Don’t teach us to look away”, “Stop the genocide”, “Free Palestine” and “Since 2023, Israeli soldiers have killed 10,000 children”.

Their letter – signed by 2,800 people – called on the rector to immediately terminate cooperation with Israeli universities, research centres, and other organisations and companies. It cited “Israeli and Jewish scholars” who regard “Israel’s actions as a textbook example of genocide”.

“Israeli universities are complicit in the persecution of the Palestinian population and military operations,” added the letter. “They maintain close ties with the Israeli army and work to improve weapons, tools of oppression and surveillance…[and] systematically discriminate against students based on their non-Jewish identity.”

“We consider lack of action to be tantamount to tacit consent to committing crimes against humanity,” concluded the letter.

Similar letters were also handed to the rectors of the University of Warsaw, Łódź, Gdańsk and Lublin, as well as SWPS University, this week, reports Gazeta Wyborcza, a leading daily newspaper.

On Friday, a group of students gathered outside the main gates of the University of Warsaw for a pro-Palestinian demonstration. Both that protest and the one on Wednesday in Kraków outside the Jagiellonian University passed peacefully.

But Gazeta Wyborcza reports that in Kraków chants of “From the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea, Palestine will be free” were heard. That slogan – which has also been heard at other pro-Palestine events in Poland – is seen as a call for Israel to be wiped off the map.

The students’ letters were strongly criticised by Jewish.pl, a website covering Jewish issues in Poland, which said they “are not based on any reliable sources of information, ignore Palestinian terrorism and its Jewish victims, and…are written in the language of totalitarianism and exclusion”.

Meanwhile, on Thursday a counter-letter addressed to university rectors was published with the signatures of almost 500 people, including students, academics and Jewish leaders, notably the chief rabbi of Poland, Michael Schudrich.

“We have different views on many issues, including the current conflict in Gaza,” they wrote. “However, we are united in the belief that differences of opinion should lead to debate, not boycott.”

“Reports of atrocities that Israel may have committed during the Gaza campaign should be taken seriously, and compassion for the civilian victims of any war is simply a measure of humanity,” added the letter. “But the Gaza campaign is a legitimate response to Hamas’ criminal attack, consistent with international law.”

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Main image credit: Robert Kowalewski / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.