5 February 2026
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) calls on all principled scholars to boycott the conference “Opposing Racial Discrimination: Historical Struggles and Legal Perspectives” to be held at Hebrew University, May 11-12, 2026.
How can a conference purporting to address the role of international law in confronting racial prejudice be held at an institution complicit in grave crimes such as apartheid and genocide?
During Israel’s ongoing genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, Hebrew University has openly declared it has provided “diverse logistics equipment to several military units” serving in the genocide.
As legal scholars have noted, Hebrew University is partially built on land illegally expropriated from Palestinian owners in Israeli occupied East Jerusalem.
Hebrew University has additionally offered its campus buildings to Israeli forces for the express purpose of oppressing the surrounding occupied Palestinian communities. Hebrew University itself hosts a military base on campus to offer academic training to Israeli soldiers, including during times of genocide.
Hebrew University embodies absolute disregard for international law, racial justice and equality.
In the current era of might-makes-right, where universal principles are being shredded, we cannot allow, or afford for international law to be hijacked by those working to undermine it. This includes rogue states and their complicit institutions.
We call on principled scholars to boycott the conference and to work for accountability by ending institutional ties with Hebrew University and all complicit Israeli institutions.
