Israel-Hamas war: Queen's University Belfast is asked it it will cut ties with the pro Israel Hillary Clinton after its divestment process
Queen's University Belfast has been asked whether it will sever ties with Chancellor Hilary Clinton after it apparently announced it had finished divesting itself of Israeli linked investments.
Daniel O'Dowd of the Ireland Israel Alliance raised the question about Mrs Clinton, a “staunch ally” of Israel, after QUB apparently completed a pledge to sever all links with Israeli linked companies.
It comes only days after Trinity College Dublin (TCD) made a similar announcement. In May last year the QUB Palestine Assembly staged a sit-in at the university and demanded QUB sever all ties with Israeli companies and universities.
Yesterday QUB said it now has no links with any Israeli universities - but firmly declined to say whether it had cut ties with any such universities also as part of the process.
Twelve months ago QUB said it was cutting ties with Israeli companies and companies on the UN human rights blacklist, representing a total divestment of £800,000, of which £170,000 related to securities listed in Israel.
In a statement released yesterday, QUB said it has no commercial or academic ties with Israel - but did not clarify whether any academic ties had been cut. “In June last year, Queen’s announced it was progressing its divestment from companies blacklisted by the UN Human Rights Council," QUB said.
“We can confirm the University has no direct investment in any Israeli companies. From an academic standpoint, we currently have no institutional research MoUs with Israeli-based partners, there are no direct research partnerships with Queen’s and any institution in Israel, and we have no student exchange programmes with Israel.”
But Daniel O'Dowd of the Ireland Israel Alliance was critical of the move.
"It's a very sad decision when universities decide that they're going to abandon academic impartiality and excellence, and they're going to become political institutions," he said.
"We a similar move by Trinity this week, an institution which has a proud history of Jewish students and which members of my extended family attended. To Jewish students there it will feel like rejection.”
He added: "In my view this move by QUB will have a similar impact on Jewish students there. In future I imagine they will only be welcome on campus if they openly reject Israel and use their identity and heritage as a weapon against it. A big question now for QUB is about its Chancellor Hillary Clinton, the former Secretary of State for the United States, a staunch ally of Israel and a participant in the Israeli Palestinian peace process of the 1990s.
"Are we going to see her resign or QUB calling upon her to resign due to her being a long standing friend of Israel?"
In November a number of police officers were injured when pro-Palestinian supporters protested against Hillary Clinton's visit to QUB.
Mr O’Dowd was speaking after TCD issued a statement this week saying it will not sign up to future exchange or research agreements with Israeli institutions, no longer use Israeli suppliers and divest from Israeli companies.
l See Morning View, p10