Israeli Students Block President’s Office in Protest Over "Genocide in Gaza"

A group of students at Ben-Gurion University announced they were striking on Thursday in commemoration of Nakba Day and staged a protest outside the university president’s office. They demanded an immediate academic strike until the end of the war in Gaza and the signing of a deal to release all hostages. The university responded that the students involved would soon face a disciplinary hearing.

The protesters blocked access to the office of University President Prof. Daniel Chamovitz, who also serves as chairman of the Committee of University Heads in Israel, and sat outside his door holding signs and chanting. Their stated demand: a total academic strike “until the genocide ends and a full prisoner exchange is achieved.”

“We are a group of Palestinian and Jewish students striking today to mark Nakba Day,” they said in a statement. “We refuse to study on a day when the Nakba continues - through expulsion, destruction, and ongoing oppression. This is a solidarity strike with the Palestinian people and a call to end the ongoing Nakba.”

The group continued: “May 15 marks the historic disaster in which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled or killed in 1948. Since then - and especially since October - the Nakba has not stopped. Tens of thousands have been killed in Gaza, many of them children. We study and live together, and we cannot separate one pain from another. As long as there is oppression, there is no security for anyone. We grieve the deaths of Israelis, the suffering of the hostages, and the Palestinian loss - and we demand: Stop the genocide. End the war. Bring all the captives home.”

Ben-Gurion University responded: “This is a serious violation of the regulations governing protest and activity on campus. The university will not tolerate such conduct. A formal complaint has been filed, and the involved students will be brought before a disciplinary committee as soon as possible.”