The UAB in support of Palestine

On 10 November 2023 the UAB Governing Team denounced the humanitarian catastrophe and grave crimes being committed in Gaza since the beginning of the escalation of the war and clearly announced its rejection to the military aggression of the State of Israel. The communiqué called for the perpetrators of the attacks committed by the Hamas organisation on 7 October against Israeli civilians to be prosecuted and tried by a competent court and for the immediate release of the hostages. It also stated that these crimes should in no way justify the subsequent crimes of the State of Israel against a Palestinian population that, after decades of occupation, thousands of civilians killed, and many more wounded, and a terrible blockade on the Gaza Strip, finds itself in an untenable and desperate situation.

The University expressed its solidarity with the Palestinian people on 29 November with a minute of silence at the entrance of various campus buildings. The rector, Javier Lafuente, said at the door of the Rectorat building: "We join the international demands for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire to stop the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip and express our support to the United Nations, which has insistently advocated compliance with international law by all actors in the conflict, its peaceful resolution and the promotion of peace agreements". And he added: “The rest of the states, and especially those that are part of the European Union, should use their influence to stop the violations of international humanitarian law by the parties involved in the conflict”. The UAB also adhered to the positions of the networks to which it belongs, namely the communiqués of the Catalan Association of Public Universities (ACUP) of 11 October and 14 November, and the communiqués of the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities (CRUE) of 17 October and 18 December 2023, and of 9 May 2024.

There also have been numerous actions to raise awareness and denounce the situation of humanitarian crisis, all organised by different University bodies over the past twenty months. For example, in the Faculty of Political Science and Sociology, on 26 October 2023, lecturer Eduard Soler gave a talk on the causes and consequences of the conflict between Palestine and Israel. On 10 April 2024, a conference was given by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese. On 13 November 2024, the Faculty of Education hosted the artistic creation workshop entitled "Estan matant escoles: aquí i allà, aleshores i ara" [They are killing schools: here and there, then and now]. And in November 2024 the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting interviewed Shurouq, a Palestinian student of the Master's Degree in Translation and Intercultural Studies. The interview was published in commemoration of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

In November 2024, the Communication Library and General Newspaper Archives hosted two complementary exhibitions related to Palestine and the profession of journalism and, in January 2025, the Periodicals Room of the Humanities Library hosted a photographic exhibition that gives voice to Palestinian women, highlighting their resistance and daily struggle against the occupation. And on 19 March the UAB Cinema Hall hosted the screening of No Other Land, a film by Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal, winner of the Oscar for best documentary feature film, with a debate held after the screening, organised by the UAB's Solidarity Foundation and UAB groups in solidarity with Palestine.

Regarding the reception of refugees, the UAB launched an extraordinary #UABRefugi aid programme for students from Palestine endowed with €148,000, in addition to the existing regular #UABRefugi programme, with a first result of five grants awarded. Given the difficulties in helping these people arrive to the UAB, a letter letter to the Spanish President was sent to request he facilitate the necessary actions to help these students travel, in the same way as students from other conflict zones were helped.

UAB governing bodies break ties with the State of Israel

On 30 May 2024 the UAB Senate approved a declaration of rejection of the systematic violence exercised by the State of Israel against the Palestinian civilian population. Following this Senate meeting, UAB suspended the only collaboration agreements it had with universities in Israel (those of Bezalel and Tel Aviv) and no new collaboration has been initiated. Instructions were also given to ensure that any new research and technology transfer activities would not contradict the UAB's firm commitment to the culture of peace. In this regard, in June 2024 a letter was sent to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, with a copy to other authorities, urging the European Union to enforce an immediate block on the participation of Israeli institutions in all projects financed with European funds. Finally, a commission was set up to follow up on these agreements, which has met three times since December 2024.

At the ordinary session of 22 May 2025, the Senate discussed the work carried out by the follow-up commission of the Declaration of the Senate on the situation in Gaza. Rector Javier Lafuente said: “I cannot fail to reiterate my condemnation and that of my Governing Team of this genocide that is being perpetrated in the Gaza Strip, on the other shore of the Mediterranean, and we demand once again compliance with international law and an end to the colonisation of settlements, the occupation, looting, expulsion and apartheid carried out by the State of Israel in Palestine”.

The Governing Council of 5 June 2025 approved the document Human Rights Policy of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona with the aim of ensuring that all activities and institutional relations of the University respect and protect internationally recognised human rights. A policy based mainly on the new Statutes, Code of Ethics, Climate Policy and the USR Plan 2023-2024 of the UAB, and also on the main national and international frameworks concerning human rights. Specifically, the UAB is committed to respecting and promoting human rights in its relationship with suppliers, establishing the essential principles regarding human rights that all suppliers linked to the University must comply with in the development of their activity.

On 10 June 2025 an extraordinary session of the Governing Council took place, at the initiative of a group of students, in which a declaration was approved “in view of the worsening of the situation in Palestine due to the systematic violence exercised by the Israeli army”. Rector Lafuente stated that the University “has reiterated in writing, and we will continue to do so as many times as necessary, the demand to the Spanish and European authorities to suspend immediately the bilateral agreements with the State of Israel and apply sanctions for the serious violation of fundamental rights”.

In this regard, in addition to the letter to President Pedro Sánchez, Rector Lafuente also sent a letter to the CRUE formally requesting that the debate on this issue be included as an item on the agenda of the next general assembly, and also a new letter to the President of the European Commission requesting that the State of Israel be excluded from European programmes and that sanctions be applied.

All further actions undertaken by the institution will also be posted on this website.