Ireland's top university cuts all ties with Israel after major student protest
The university's board informed students by email that it had accepted the recommendations of a taskforce to sever 'institutional links with the State of Israel, Israeli universities and companies headquartered in Israel'.
The recommendations would be 'enacted for the duration of the ongoing violations of international and humanitarian law', said the email sent by the board's chairman Paul Farrell.
The taskforce was set up after part of the university's campus in central Dublin was blockaded by students for five days last year in protest at Israel's actions in Gaza.
Among the taskforce's recommendations approved by the board were pledges to divest 'from all companies headquartered in Israel' and to 'enter into no future supply contracts with Israeli firms' and 'no new commercial relationships with Israeli entities'.
The university also said that it would 'enter into no further mobility agreements with Israeli universities'.
Trinity has two current Erasmus+ exchange agreements with Israeli universities: Bar Ilan University, an agreement that ends in July 2026, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which ends in July 2025, the university told AFP in an email.
The board also said that the university 'should not submit for approval or agree to participate in any new institutional research agreements involving Israeli participation'.
It 'should seek to align itself with like-minded universities and bodies in an effort to influence EU policy concerning Israel's participation in such collaborations,' it added.
Ireland has been among the most outspoken critics of Israel's response to the October 7, 2023 attacks on southern Israel by Hamas militants that sparked the war in Gaza.
Polls since the start of the war have shown overwhelming pro-Palestinian sympathy in Ireland.
In May 2024, Dublin joined several other European countries in recognising Palestine as a 'sovereign and independent state'.
It then joined South Africa in bringing a case before the International Court of Justice in The Hague accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza - charges angrily denied by Israeli leaders.
In December, Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar ordered the closure of the country's embassy in Dublin, blaming Ireland's 'extreme anti-Israel policies'.
The University of Geneva also announced Wednesday that it has ended its partnership with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem following student protests, saying it no longer reflected the institution's 'strategic priorities'.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
38 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Labour's love affair with business has descended into a messy divorce
Labour's first year in office was like the debut of a bad movie franchise. A long, hot summer of uncertainty followed by a 'shoot 'em up' Budget tax raid. Now despite poor reviews for the original, the producers seem determined to unleash a sequel. We learned this week that, ahead of an autumn Budget, business confidence in the UK is the lowest since records began, confirmed by the Institute of Directors. What started as Labour's love story in opposition has become near all-out war on business in government. The battle between the subtleties of what it takes to foster enterprises and the deployed prejudices of Labour student union politicians, is not a fair fight: taxes, borrowing and regulatory burdens on business are all going the wrong way. Business confidence may be just another number in the long parade of economic indicators heading in the wrong direction but, unlike others, it is forward-looking. It is business confidence that decides if there will be a job available for those collecting their degrees in the next few weeks. And it is business confidence that will be signing – or not signing – that order for winter stock or the Christmas advertising spend next week. What we need is a government that makes it easier, not harder, for businesses to operate – that is the prerequisite for growth in the UK. Conservatives at least understand this, even if too many actions in government deviated from the authentically Conservative beliefs Kemi Badenoch has recently reasserted. For the many senior Conservatives with deep business experience, this is intuitive. Instead, Labour has done everything in its power from the outset to do the exact opposite. The manifesto-breaking National Insurance jobs tax, for example, is laser-focused on raising unemployment while costing £25bn a year. Or take the family business death tax. Family businesses employ nearly 16 million people in the UK. They are now being de-incentivised to line the Treasury coffers, driving up their costs and making them less competitive than foreign competitors or even private equity-owned businesses which don't face the same odious tax. Many of these long-standing family businesses with deep community roots face having to let go the very people to whom they've previously given opportunities. Completing the hat-trick of economic horrors is the 300-page job-killing employment bill – which does the exact opposite of what it says on the tin. Set to bite later this year, this £5bn-a-year burden sets loose the unions who bankroll the Labour Party and buries bosses in red tape. Primed to unleash waves of strikes and crush anyone who dares to grow here in the UK, it will turn employing staff from a minor headache to a raging migraine. Of late, Labour have been trying to gaslight us into believing that everything is fine. Clinging selectively to any cherry-picked data outlier to assert a parallel universe to the one the Institute of Directors or CBI reports. The Chancellor celebrates a minuscule 0.1pc rise in GDP like a Lionesses' win one day while ignoring the cacophony of warnings from those on the frontline such as UKHospitality or the British Retail Consortium. This approach treats businesses like fools, and it never works. To create confidence you need consistency, and business rumbled some time ago that this Government is anything but consistent. They see what I see, and what Telegraph readers see: an underqualified Chancellor completely out of her depth who is more interested in feeding the public spending furnaces than taking tough decisions for the British economy. In possibly the largest brain-drain in history, many of those who can are voting with their feet and leaving for more hospitable countries. Last summer was already a write off after Rachel Reeves spent it trash-talking our own economy and having the longest run in to a Budget for decades. What will this years sequel look like? We can only guess. Perhaps 'A Nightmare on Downing Street' could be its working title? As a responsible Opposition, we want the Government to do what is in the national interest. If Reeves wants to stop the rot, she should pursue radical cuts in spending to shrink taxes and the welfare state. We, like many, would support this. Unfortunately, we know not to hold our breath. Socialists will do what they have always done – continue to smash businesses with higher taxes, higher energy costs and more trade union-sponsored red tape. The result of all this is that confidence will be subdued and decisions put on hold, followed by another painful Budget with the Chancellor pulling the only lever she knows how: higher taxes. We've seen this socialist movie before. Only the names have been changed. The title of this sequel to the first dreadful attempt of a year ago? Less Mission: Impossible, more Mission: Impoverish.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
A half-million young Catholics invade Rome, awaiting Pope Leo XIV at Holy Year youth festival
Hundreds of thousands of young Catholics poured into a vast field on Rome's outskirts Saturday for the weekend highlight of the Vatican's 2025 Holy Year: an evening vigil, outdoor slumber party and morning Mass celebrated by Pope Leo XIV that marks his first big encounter with the next generation of Catholics. Leo will surely like what he sees: For the past week, bands of young Catholics from around the world have invaded the area around St. Peter's Square for their special Jubilee celebration, in this Holy Year in which 32 million people are expected to descend on Rome to participate in a centuries-old pilgrimage to the seat of Catholicism. The young people have been traipsing through cobblestoned streets in color-coordinated t-shirts, praying the Rosary and singing hymns with guitars, bongo drums and tambourines shimmying alongside. Using their flags as tarps to shield them from the sun, they have taken over entire piazzas for Christian rock concerts and inspirational talks, and stood for hours at the Circus Maximus to confess their sins to 1,000 priests offering the sacrament in a dozen different languages. On Saturday, they began arriving at the Tor Vergata field on the eastern flank of Rome for the culmination of their Jubilee celebration — the encounter with Leo. After walking five kilometers (three miles) from the nearest subway station, they passed through security checks, picked up their boxed meals and set up camp, backpacks and sleeping bags at the ready and umbrellas planted to give them shade. Leo, who was elected in May as the first American pope, was flying in by helicopter Saturday evening to preside over the vigil and a question-and-answer session. He was then returning to the Vatican for the night and coming back for a popemobile romp and Mass on Sunday morning. A mini World Youth Day, 25 years later It all has the vibe of a World Youth Day, the Catholic Woodstock festival that St. John Paul II inaugurated and made famous in 2000 in Rome at the very same Tor Vergata field. Then, before an estimated 2 million people, John Paul told the young pilgrims they were the 'sentinels of the morning' at the dawn of the third millennium. Officials had initially expected 500,000 youngsters this weekend, but Leo hinted the number might reach 1 million. 'It's a bit messed up, but this is what is nice about the Jubilee,' said Chloe Jobbour, a 19-year-old Lebanese Catholic who was in Rome with a group of more than 200 young members of the Community of the Beatitudes, a France-based charismatic group. She said, for example, it had taken two hours to get dinner Friday night, as the KFC was overwhelmed by orders. The Salesian school that offered her group housing is an hour away by bus. But Jobbour, like many here this week, didn't mind the discomfort: It's all part of the experience. 'I don't expect it to be better than that. I expected it this way,' she said, as members of her group gathered on church steps near the Vatican to sing and pray before heading out to Tor Vergata. There was already one tragedy before the vigil began: The Vatican confirmed that an Egyptian 18-year-old, identified as Pascale Rafic, had died while on the pilgrimage. Leo met Saturday with the group she was traveling with and extended his condolences to her family. The weather has largely cooperated: While Italian civil protection crews had prepared for temperatures that could have reached 34C (93F) or higher this week, the mercury hasn't surpassed 30C (85F) and isn't expected to. Romans inconvenienced, but tolerant Those Romans who didn't flee the onslaught have been inconvenienced by the additional hordes on the city's notoriously insufficient public transport system. Residents are sharing social media posts of outbursts by Romans angered by kids flooding subway platforms and crowding bus stops that have complicated their commutes to work. But other Romans have welcomed the enthusiasm the youngsters have brought. Premier Giorgia Meloni offered a video welcome, marveling at the 'extraordinary festival of faith, joy and hope' that the young people had brought to the Eternal City. 'I think it's marvelous,' said Rome hairdresser Rina Verdone, who lives near the Tor Vergata field and woke up Saturday to find a gaggle of police congregating outside her home as part of the massive, 4,000-strong operation mounted to keep the peace. 'You think the faith, the religion is in difficulty, but this is proof that it's not so.' Verdone had already made plans to take an alternate route home Saturday afternoon, that would require an extra kilometer (half-mile) walk, because she feared the 'invasion' of kids in her neighborhood would disrupt her usual bus route. But she said she was more than happy to make the sacrifice. 'You think of invasion as something negative. But this is a positive invasion,' she said. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Prince Andrew should testify to US lawmakers under oath over his ties to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, says top lawyer
A top lawyer representing Jeffrey Epstein 's victims has demanded Prince Andrew testifies about his links to the infamous paedophile socialite. Famed lawyer Gloria Allred, 84, said the Duke of York should volunteer to speak under oath before Congress. The 65-year-old has maintained his denial of ever sleeping with Virginia Giuffre, the Epstein victim Andrew was pictured with when she was 17, with the pair standing next to jailed predator Ghislaine Maxwell. Andrew's lawyers have denied that he has refused to cooperate with US Epstein investigators. Allred told The Daily Mirror: 'Now more than ever, he should come forward. He could volunteer to testify publicly. 'Is he willing to testify before Congress? Is he willing to give more information to the Justice Department? And if not, why not? 'His silence is a statement that he's not willing to help for some reason.' It came as a bombshell book called Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, by Andrew Lownie, revealed Jeffrey Epstein said of Prince Andrew: 'We are both serial sex addicts. He's the only person I have met who is more obsessed with p***y than me. 'From the reports I've got back from the women we've shared, he's the most perverted animal in the bedroom. He likes to engage in stuff that's even kinky to me – and I'm the king of kink!' The book, which the Duke and Duchess of York tried to ban, explores how the couple 'fell from grace because of the flaws in their own characters and how they were allowed to leverage their privileged position as royals for personal gain with the connivance of the institution itself.' The book also details claims of Prince Andrew's infidelity and bedroom antics - from sleeping with scores of women while on ambassador trips to making lewd comments to women he met during everyday life as the late Queen's favourite son. It said the nickname 'Randy Andy' was given to Prince Andrew while he was at Gordonstoun public school. He allegedly earned the name because he was already sexually experienced, good looking and girls were attracted to him. While he has never had trouble picking up women, a family friend said: 'He's not a hunter of women. He rather expects them to come to him. But when they do, he shows himself to be bone idle and not very socially adept at chatting them up.' The Duke of York has long faced criticism for his friendship with Epstein (pictured in 2011), which carried on even after the socialite's imprisonment for sex offences in 2008 One woman he propositioned said: 'He's about as subtle as a hand grenade. His favourite trick is to rub your knee under the table. It's pathetic.' At a wedding he was said to have asked a woman he'd not met before for a dance. When she declined, he responded, 'I suppose a b*** j** is out of the question, then?' Another of his lovers said: 'He is not a Casanova. In the bedroom department he is a bit of a let-down. He has been dumped by most of the girls linked to him because he is a bore.' Andrew is also said to have certain juvenile characteristics, such as taking advantage of his position to humiliate others who may not be able to respond. At a society event in 1992 he reportedly unzipped broadcaster Tania Bryer's evening dress the full length of her back. Then at a dinner party he allegedly sniffed the pâté served as a first course and turned to his right, saying, 'This pâté smells. What do you think?' His female companion leaned forward to smell it and he promptly pushed her face into the dish. One of his dates recalled how he always introduced himself to her friends as the Duke of York, 'even when we were dancing on tables at two in the morning at Momo.' After a house party in Dorset, one young woman complained: 'One minute you're having your bum pinched and the next minute he's reminding you he's Your Royal Highness.' The controversial prince even left an impression on former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Andrew asked to have lunch with Johnson when he was Mayor of London, turning up with a list of things he wanted to talk about. He wanted to redesign traffic lights with 'fewer red lights', thought the whole of Battersea Power Station should be demolished, including the listed towers and felt the Queen Elizabeth II Centre was too small and not fit for purpose. Johnson responded: 'Well, if it's too small, it's your mum's fault.' Andrew reportedly stuck his tongue out. Afterwards, Boris said: 'I'm the last person to be a republican but, f***, if I ever have to spend another lunch like that, I soon will be.' Before her death by suicide in April, Virginia Giuffre said she was approached by Maxwell in 2000 and eventually was hired by her as a masseuse for Epstein, who took his own life in prison aged 66 in 2019. But the couple effectively made her a sexual servant, she said, pressuring her into gratifying not only Epstein but his friends and associates. Donald Trump and his then-girlfriend Melania Knauss with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at the Mar-a-Lago club, Palm Beach, Florida, on February 12, 2000 Giuffre said she was flown around the world for appointments with men including Prince Andrew while she was 17 and 18 years old. The men, including Andrew, denied that and questioned Giuffre's credibility. The prince settled with Giuffre in 2022 for an undisclosed sum, agreeing to make a 'substantial donation' to her survivors' organisation. While Andrew has long been criticised on both sides of the Atlantic, Allred, the attorney for some of Epstein's victims, also said she believes Andrew's name appears in files on Epstein held by the US government that many are asking to be made public. President Trump, who was close friends with Epstein for decades, suggested while campaigning for the last election that he would release the files. His campaign team wrote on X: 'President Trump says he will DECLASSIFY the 9/11 Files, JFK Files, and Epstein Files.' However, since his election he has backtracked. His former pal Elon Musk has criticised the Trump administration for not releasing the files. This year, Trump claimed the files were a 'hoax' and a 'scam' by Democrats who had peddled 'bulls***' to former MAGA supporters. Musk responded on X by saying: 'Wow, amazing that Epstein '' killed himself'' and Ghislaine is in federal prison for a hoax.' Then on July 15, Trump said: 'It's pretty boring stuff. It's sordid, but it's boring, and I don't understand why it keeps going. 'I think really only pretty bad people, including fake news, want to keep something like that going.' He later admitted the US attorney general had not told him the files were a hoax, but said he (Trump) 'knew' it was.
