September 19, 2025
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UCU motions on Palestine, 2024

Robert Boyce1439 mins mins

UCU Congress 2024: Palestine motions and amendments


Six motions, nos.32-37, listed below, were adopted (no.34 in amended form)

32 Composite: Solidarity with Palestine Disabled members standing
committee, UCU Cymru, London retired members
Congress notes

  1. Since 7th October, more than an estimated 30,676 Palestinians and
    1,139 Israelis have been killed, building on decades of precedent.
  2. The Senedd and a UN General Assembly majority have voted for an
    immediate ceasefire.
  3. For disabled Palestinians, escaping conflict zones becomes an effective
    death sentence.
  4. Deaf or blind individuals struggle to receive evacuation orders, while
    those with intellectual disabilities may be unable to communicate their
    whereabouts.
  5. Physical disabilities hinder mobility, making it impossible to navigate
    rubble or travel long distances
  6. Before 7th October, 21% of households in Gaza had at least one
    member with a disability. At least 77,229 Palestinians in Gaza have
    since been injured in Israel’s genocidal assault.”
    Congress believes
    a. The Israeli response to the Hamas attacks amounts to genocide,
    ethnic cleansing and collective punishment of Palestinians.
    b. Disabled people are considered more vulnerable to the impact of
    conflicts because they face greater barriers to accessing safety and
    humanitarian assistance than many others. This puts them at an
    increased risk of serious injuries, death, sexual assault, and other
    forms of harm. In long-lasting armed conflicts, the prevalence of
    disability is significantly high.
    Congress resolves
    i. To call for an immediate ceasefire and end to Israel’s decades-long
    occupation of Palestinian territories.
    ii. To call on the UK Government and all UK political parties to support an
    immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza
    iii. To call for the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners in
    Israeli gaols.
    iv. UCU to campaign for trauma-informed services and protections, aid,
    and safe space for women, children, pregnant women, lgbtq+, and
    women with disabilities in Palestine. Women suffer invisible gender-based
  7. violence, disproportionate discrimination, inhuman and
    degrading sexual abuse by Israeli soldiers, rape, denial of menstrual
    products, and lack of access to food and medicine. Women with
    disabilities are increasing exacerbated by limited services, lack of

education, lack of resources, and dependence on guardians

33 Composite: In defence of Palestinian rights, free speech and
academic freedom University of Warwick, UCU Cymru, University
of Liverpool, London regional committee, Kings College London
Congress notes

  1. in the UK, academic freedom and free speech are being threatened for
    Palestinians and their supporters. Islamophobia and antisemitism have
    increased.
  2. the growth of the Palestine solidarity movement against Israel’s
    genocidal assault on Gaza, settler-colonialism, and apartheid.
  3. the attempt to suppress Palestine advocacy in colleges and
    universities and critical scholarly work on the Middle East and North
    Africa in UK HE.
  4. the call by Scholars for Palestine, www.scholarsforpalestine.org
  5. genocidal assault on Gaza, the destruction of all its universities, and
    the targeted killing of its scholars;
  6. ongoing disruption of West Bank Palestinian universities,
    administrative detention of students and staff, and the Israeli military
    quota on visiting scholars;
  7. established role of Israeli universities in the maintenance of the
    apartheid system; and
  8. attacks on Palestinian advocacy and teaching and research critical of
    Israel on UK campuses.
  9. intervention by Oxford University to deny debate to a branch motion
    calling for a “Socialist Intifada” in the Middle East. The censorship by
    UCL of the UCL UCU branch website for passing a similar motion;
    and Breaking into UCU offices at Queen Mary University of London to
    remove a UCU “Ceasefire Now” poster and one calling for an end to
    “Israeli apartheid”, both protected free speech.
  10. the launch meeting of Campus Voices for Palestine on 25 January at
    UCL and the BRICUP-organised tour of campuses with follow-up
    events.
    Congress believes
    a. Industrial action was important in supporting the struggle against
    apartheid in South Africa.
    b. We need to mobilise working class power to end the genocide in Gaza
    and cut ties with the settler-colonial, apartheid state of Israel.
    c. This is crucial to defending our own working conditions and academic
    freedom.
    d. Attacks such as those at the branches above parallel those made on
    individual union members for free speech on Palestine. But they also
    concern the independent democratic functioning of union branches.
    Congress resolves to
    i. defend staff/student rights to demonstrate in solidarity with Palestinians
    by mobilizing members against any attempt by employers or the
    government to silence us. We must campaign publicly to defend free
    speech and academic freedom, particularly in support of
    Palestinian rights
    ii. ensure UCU robustly defends branches from attack by employers,
    including with legal support
    iii. launch a campaign to remove all restrictions on our right to strike,
    including over issues of social justice, against war and imperialism –
    and in the fight for a free Palestine
    iv. step up the pressure to end the war on Gaza and join the international
    movement calling for an immediate, unconditional, and permanent
    ceasefire by establishing a grassroots solidarity committee, working
    with existing initiatives, to undertake work towards:
  • Ending British universities’ involvement in the arms trade and
    complicit institutions – Organise to end university
    investments, contracts or cooperation agreements with
    weapons companies supplying Israel and complicit
    institutions. To campaign vigorously and publicly to support
    the call for the USS and other pension funds to divest from
    companies complicit in Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian
    people.
  • Building academic links with Palestinian universities and
    academics – Explore collaborative initiatives such
    as twinnings, exchanges, joint projects,
    scholarship programmes, academic fellowships and
    partnerships that contribute positively to the Palestinian
    educational sector.
    v. To alert all members to existing UCU policy in support of BDS inviting
    them to sign the Academic Commitment for Palestine
    vi. To support the Defend Voices for Palestine Campaign on campuses,
    join and donate £3k to the national campaign Campus Voices 4
    Palestine, and affiliate to BRICUP.
    vii. Urge branches to support local campaigns to sever ties with Israeli
    universities, and divest from complicit companies.
    viii. Invite all members to sign the Commitment by UK Scholars to
    Palestinian Human Rights.
    ix. Publish and circulate to all members the statement on Palestine
    written by the UCU Black Members Standing Committee in autumn
    2023, which provides important political background and guidance
    on Palestine for UCU

members. (https://www.ucu.org.uk/article/13517/ BMSCstatement-on-Palestine-and-freedom-of-speech) (adopted with modifications)

34 Ceasefire now. For a free Palestine New City College Tower
Hamlets (Poplar)
Notes: The Israeli state’ barbaric military campaign on the people of Gaza.
Over 30,000 Palestinians had been killed.
Believes:

  1. The Israeli government is guilty of war crimes and ethnic cleansing.
  2. The two-state solution is unviable.
  3. The current state of Israel cannot offer security for Jews as its
    existence is dependent on continued oppression of the Palestinian
    people who will inevitably resist.
  4. That anti-Zionism is not antisemitism.
    Resolves:
    a. Continue to support calls for an immediate ceasefire, release of
    prisoners and hostages.
    b. Oppose moves by the Tory government to legally restrict shows of
    solidarity with Palestine, such as legislation banning BDS campaigns.
    c. Oppose any attempts by employers to conflate anti-Zionism with
    antisemitism.
    d. To support the Defend Voices for Palestine on Campuses, join and
    donate £1k to the national campaign, and affiliate to British
    Committee for Universities in Palestine (BRICUP).
    [original Notes 3 was taken separately and narrowly defeated by 18 votes]
  5. Peace can only be achieved by establishing a single democratic secular
    state in Israel/Palestine where Muslims, Jews, Christians and all
    people who live there have equal rights. These rights must include the

right to return for all Palestinians

35 Workers unite for Palestine and against the wider war! King’s
College London
Congress notes:

  1. Military escalation in the Middle East following Israel’s attack on the
    Iranian consulate in Damascus on 1 April.
  2. RAF support for Israel during Iran’s 13 April counterattack.
  3. Intensified Israeli attacks on Palestinians and threat of Rafah invasion.
  4. International mobilization for Palestine and public support for a UK
    arms embargo on Israel.
    Congress believes:
    a. Workers’ actions are key to stopping Israel’s genocide and the wider
    war it is fuelling.
    Congress resolves to:
    i. Support workers’ pro-Palestine mobilisations in the Middle East and
    publicly condemn their repression.
    ii. Endorse grassroots network University & College Workers for Palestine.
    iii. Coordinate walkouts against Israel’s genocide, Rafah invasion and wider
    war.
    iv. Call for an immediate arms embargo on Israel and oppose British forces
    deployment in Israel’s support.
    v. Offer full legal and industrial support to members refusing to undertake

contracted duties which risk complicity in war crimes

36 Solidarity with Palestine protests on US campuses University of
Brighton
Congress notes

  1. The attempted suppression of Palestine solidarity protests on US
    campuses.
  2. That university managements have called the police on their own
    students citing intimidation and trespass.
  3. The hundreds of arrests at Columbia, NYU and Yale.
  4. The spread of the movement to other institutions including Brown,
    Princeton, MIT, and UC Berkeley.
    Congress believes
    a. Students are right to protest their government and institutions’
    complicity with Israeli genocide.
    b. Freedom to protest and dissent are fundamental rights, especially in
    education institutions.
    Congress resolves
    i. To send messages of solidarity from UCU to the student Palestine
    solidarity movement in the US.
    ii. To write to the Principals of universities protesting the arrests and
    disciplining of student protesters.
    iii. To encourage and facilitate branches to invite speakers from the US
    movement to UCU meetings.
    iv. To continue to support UCU involvement in campus protests in the UK

against Israel’s genocide and in solidarity with the Palestinians

37 Composite: Gaza Family Scheme University of Oxford, London
regional committee
Congress notes

  1. Israel continues to bombard Gaza, where the death toll has surpassed
    34,000.
  2. Existing routes out of Gaza and into the UK are insufficient. Gazans are
    faced with expensive border charges and the UK Home Office’s
    biometric requirements.
  3. The UK Government has previously introduced pathways for those
    fleeing persecution in Ukraine and Hong Kong.
  4. 100,000+ people have signed a petition calling for a Gaza Family
    Scheme which will be debated on 13 May.
    Congress believes
    a. The UK government should establish a Gaza Family Scheme with the
    right of return protected in line with the Universal Declaration of
    Human Rights.
    Congress resolves to call on UCU to:
    i. To sign the Trade Unions Open Letter to Home Secretary on the
    Palestinian Family Scheme, here:
    https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScT7HBdqLyOBDysWO7u
    AQTrglZQCHrk3aXTzO1HuRIEu5qUBA/viewform
    ii. To call on the UK government to establish a Palestinian Family Scheme
    with the right of return protected in line with the Universal Declaration
    of Human Rights.
    iii. Use its lobbying power in Parliament to vouch for the scheme and to
    send a representative to Parliamentary debates pertaining to the
    scheme.

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