September 19, 2025
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BRISMES demands Government action on Gaza

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The Board of Trustees and Committee on Academic Freedom of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies sent a letter [below] today to members of the British Government, including the Prime Minister,  Secretary of State for Defence, and  Secretary of State for Education, calling upon them to put pressure on Israel to ensure the immediate end of the indiscriminate targeting and systematic destruction of the Palestinian education system in the Gaza Strip, and to stop government and corporate British arms sales to the Israeli military until the International Court of Justice issues its final ruling on whether Israel is committing genocide.

In the letter, BRISMES documents in detail the systematic indiscriminate targeting of the Palestinian education system, claiming that it is a war crime and a crime against humanity, as defined by the 1998 Rome Statute, and appears to be an integral part of the broader pattern of elimination emphasized in South Africa’s application to the International Court of Justice. In light of the destruction of the education system in the Gaza Strip, the professional association would have expected that the British government, and particularly the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Education, to publicly condemn Israel’s indiscriminate targeting of universities and schools, underscoring the horrific long term effects this destruction will have on Palestinian society. BRISMES further request that the UK government:

  1. Suspend all military export licenses with Israel until the ICJ has issued a final ruling on South Africa’s application.
  2. Reverse the decision to suspend aid to UNRWA schools and commit crucial aid to assist in the rebuilding of the education system in Gaza.
  3. Initiate a series of measures for both the immediate reconstruction and long-term rebuilding of the higher education and research sector in Gaza.

Here is the BRISMES letter in full:

The Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP
Prime Minister
10 Downing Street
London SW1A 2AA

The Rt Hon Lord Cameron
Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs

The Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP
Secretary of State for Defence

The Rt Hon Gillian Keegan MP
Secretary of State for Education

Sent via Email

30 January 2024

Dear Prime Minister and Secretaries of State,

I am writing to you on behalf of the Board of Trustees and Committee on Academic Freedom of
the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES) to ask that the British Government put
pressure on Israel to ensure the immediate end of the systematic destruction of the education
system in the Gaza Strip, and to stop government and corporate British arms sales to the Israeli
military until the International Court of Justice issues its final ruling on whether Israel is
committing genocide.

In light of the provisional measures issued by the ICJ, BRISMES considers the systematic
destruction of schools and university buildings, including laboratories, libraries and classrooms,
alongside the killing of students and staff, as part of a genocidal strategy aimed at destroying in
whole or in part the Palestinian education system within the Gaza Strip. Given that the Foreign
Office has ‘serious concerns’ about Israel’s compliance with international law, the UK
government’s support of Israel’s military, including the trading of weapons, can potentially be
interpreted as complicity in war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

Founded in 1973, BRISMES is the largest national academic association in Europe focused on the
study of the Middle East and North Africa. It is committed to supporting academic freedom and
freedom of expression, both within the region and in connection with the study of the region, in
the UK and globally.

The education system in Gaza is made up of over 625,000 students and about 22,500 teachers and
professors, all of whom have been impacted by the war. As documented by the Palestinian Ministry
of Education and the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, since the beginning of the war,
4,327 students have been killed and 7,819 others injured, while 231 teachers and administrators
have been killed and 756 injured during the ongoing attacks. The Israeli army has also killed 94
university professors. The number of students and educational staff killed in such a short period is
unprecedented in the region’s history.

The destruction of educational infrastructures is also unprecedented. During the war’s first 16
weeks, 345 out of Gaza’s 737 schools were destroyed or damaged, and as we write about 30
percent of school buildings will be out of service even after a ceasefire is implemented.
Consequently, hundreds of thousands school children who have already been deprived of
education for several months will not have a school to return to once the Israeli forces’ attacks
subside. Moreover, Israeli forces have attacked multiple schools serving as temporary shelters,
killing Palestinians who sought refuge after the Israeli military had displaced them from their
homes. In November 2023, for example, Israeli forces attacked the UNRWA-run Al-Fakhoura and
Al-Buraq schools, killing at least 40 people and wounding many others, while in December 2023,
its forces killed 15 Palestinians in attacks on Shadia Abu Ghazala School.

Higher education infrastructures have also been heavily targeted. The Geneva-based independent
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has documented Israel’s systematic destruction of every
university in Gaza. The Islamic University and the University College of Applied Sciences were
bombed on the 11th and 19th of October respectively. On 4 November, Israeli forces bombed Al
Azhar University, the second largest university in Gaza, followed by the destruction of Al Quds
University on the 15th of that month. Gaza University was destroyed on 4 December, while Al Aqsa University, and the Palestine Technical College were also severely damaged. On January 17,
2024, Israel circulated images of the complete destruction in a controlled detonation of Israa
University, the last remaining major university in the Gaza Strip.

Alongside the wholesale decimation of the physical infrastructure of higher education in the Gaza
Strip, including, for example, the looting of 3,000 rare artifacts by Israeli soldiers who occupied
Israa University before they demolished it, Israeli forces have killed many members of Gaza’s academic community, including numerous internationally respected scholars, who comprised part
of the region’s intellectual leadership. These include Professor Sufian Tayeh, president of the
Islamic University of Gaza, Professor Muhammad Eid Shabir, a microbiologist and Tayeh’s
predecessor at the university for 15 years, Dr. Said Al-Zubda, the president of the University
College of Applied Sciences, and Professor Refaat Alareer, a co-founder of the ‘We Are Not
Numbers’ project, and one of Gaza’s most prominent intellectuals. Completely ignoring this
context, as late as January 28, 2024, Israel’s Education Minister went so far as to characterise calls
made by several other government ministers and Knesset Members to resettle Gaza as ‘Super
Legitimate’.

The systematic indiscriminate targeting of the Palestinian education system is a war crime and a
crime against humanity, as defined by the 1998 Rome Statute, and appears to be an integral part
of the broader pattern of elimination emphasized in South Africa’s application to the International
Court of Justice. In its recent ruling, the ICJ determined that Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip can
plausibly be interpreted as a violation of Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Moreover, the Protocol Additional to the Geneva
Conventions of 12 August 1949, which is part of international customary law, obliges contracting
parties to refrain from targeting civilians and civilian objects and take all feasible measures to
avoid injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects and suspend any such attacks. Finally,
International Human Rights Law, particularly Article 13 of the 1966 International Covenant on
Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, prohibits state parties from systematically jeopardising the
availability and accessibility of education. In this context we would like to remind you of
Resolution 2601 adopted in 2021 by the United Nations Security Council, which “strongly
condemns the continued attacks as well as threats of attacks that are in contravention of
international humanitarian law against schools and civilians connected with schools, including
children and teachers, and urges all parties to armed conflict to immediately cease such attacks
and threats of attacks and to refrain from actions that impede access to education.”

In light of all of the above, we would have expected that the British government, and particularly
the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Education, would publicly condemn the
destruction of the education system in the Gaza Strip, underscoring the horrific long term effects
this destruction will have on Palestinian society. We further request that the UK government:

1. Suspend all military export licenses with Israel until the ICJ has issued a final ruling on
South Africa’s application.

2. Reverse the decision to suspend aid to UNRWA schools and commit crucial aid to assist
in the rebuilding of the education system in Gaza.

3. Initiate a series of measures for both the immediate reconstruction and long-term
rebuilding of the higher education and research sector in Gaza.

We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Professor Neve Gordon
Vice President, BRISMES
On behalf of BRISMES Council and the BRISMES Committee on Academic Freedom

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