The Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa
is asking for the call for applications issued by the foreign
ministry for scientific cooperation with Israel in 2024 to be
reconsidered, local newspapers reported on Friday.
The academic senate at the prestigious university reportedly
approved the motion on the request of students on Tuesday amid
mounting protests in italian universities over the impact on the
civilian population of Gaza of Israel's war against Hamas
sparked by the terrorist attacks of October 7.
The academic senate is calling on the ministry "to reconsider
the '2024 Scientific Call' issued on November 21, 2023 in
implementation of the Italy-Israel industrial, scientific and
technological cooperation agreement".
In the motion the university also renews calls, "also in the
light of the UN resolution of March 25, 2024, for the release of
the hostages and an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip in
order to prevent the further deterioration of a now desperate
humanitarian situation that is increasingly taking the form of
an unacceptable form of collective punishment of the Palestinian
population".
Last week Turin university's academic senate announced the
decision not to take part in the 2024 Scientific Call after
pro-Palestinian left-wing collectives occupied the premises.
However, university dean Stefano Geuna said it "was an action on
a very specific call" and that "all the agreements currently in
force with Israeli universities, and there are many, remain
valid".
Following the decision and the de-platforming of La Repubblica
editor Maurizio Molinari at a Naples university a few days
earlier, Noemi Di Segni, the president of the Union of Italian
Jewish Communities, said "Every red line has now been crossed
and concern about the university situation is overflowing".
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