ELE4P Genocide Complicity Report

UNIVERSITY OF EXETER

GENOCIDE COMPLICITY REPORT

N O

EX

JUNE 2024 TIN

M

ES

AM

P

E

DIVEST BOYCOTT SUPPORT SAFEGUARD

ENC

EXETER LIBERATION ENCAMPMENT FOR PALESTINE

L BERA ER TI ET

EN

T FOR P

AL

TABLE OF CONTENTS What is the purpose of this report?............................................................1 Executive summary........................................................................................2 Partners in Genocide.....................................................................................3 Research Partnerships..................................................................................5 What are the University’s ethics policies governing partnerships?.....8 Let’s work together to achieve Strategy 2030.......................................10 Strategic Partnerships.................................................................................11 Relationships with Complicit Israeli Academic Institutions.................12 Other Complicit Partnerships....................................................................13 Investment Policies......................................................................................14 Closing statement.........................................................................................15

Who are we?...................................................................................................17

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THIS REPORT?

The intention of this report is to outline the ways in which the University of Exeter is complicit in the ongoing genocide and occupation of the Palestinian people through its collaboration with companies who produce the weaponry and surveillance technologies used by the Israeli state in its human rights abuses, which advance 76 years of apartheid regime and occupation.

We also want to highlight the lack of transparency by the University in revealing the full extent of its complicit strategic partnerships, research partnerships and investments.

Finally, we want to expose the hypocrisy of the University: its stated values and ethical principles are in direct contradiction with its choice of strategic and research partners. The University’s own policies demand adherence to international laws, yet its corporate and research partnerships with certain companies contravene these ethical policies. This issue extends beyond the scope of individual academic freedom.

All claims in this report are substantiated with linked evidence which is available online. We have collected this evidence and present it here to the general public.

We hope that making this data publicly available will generate engagement by the university administration, and create a pathway to ethical investment and research partnerships that live up to the University’s Strategy 2030 mission statement to “maximise our positive impact on the world”.

1

EE XX EE CC UU TT IV UUMMMMAARRYY I VEESS The value of the 7 disclosed grants at the University of Exeter where arms companies who have sold arms to Israel are listed as partners is £5.86M+.

The University of Exeter is complicit in Israeli apartheid through its six grants in partnership with IBM, which are worth over £13M+. IBM works closely with the Israeli Population, Immigration and Borders Authority, as well as the Israeli police and military, to provide software and database infrastructure which underlies the implementation of discriminatory policies against Palestinians.

The total value of disclosed grants awarded to projects at the University of Exeter where complicit companies (including arms companies and IBM) are listed as partners is £19M+.

Over 10 PhD studentships are at least part-funded by complicit arms companies at the University of Exeter.

The University has strategic partnerships with companies that have exported arms to Israel.

These include Babcock, QinetiQ and Smiths Group (through its subsidiary, Smiths Detection).

Exeter has also carried out consultancy for complicit arms companies, and worked with them to provide degree apprenticeships.

The University is actively looking to expand its research within ‘defence and security’, through collaboration with partners such as BAE Systems, Babcock and QinetiQ, according to its ‘Sector Plans 2023-24’.

The University has two active projects about which information is available online, which involve grants in which Tel Aviv University is listed as a collaborator. On the Universities UK website, the University of Exeter and the University of Tel Aviv are listed as ‘successful partner universities’ for the active ‘UK-Israel innovation researcher mobility scheme’. Tel Aviv University is complicit in a number of ways with the war crimes committed by the Israeli army, included but not limited to involvement in R&D for the Israeli military.

According to the University’s investment policy, investment in arms and ammunition are avoided, placing this industry in the same list as practices such as child labour and modern slavery. If the University considers the arms industry too unethical to invest in, then how can it be ethical to enjoy research partnerships with arms companies? This position is logically and morally inconsistent.

The University has stated that it may hold investments that ‘can be shown to have indirect links to Israel.’

2

PARTNERS I In the following report, we will mention a number of arms companies who we describe as complicit in the occupation, apartheid and genocide of Palestinians. Before you read about how the University of Exeter works with these companies, we want to tell you exactly how they are complicit.

BAE Systems BAE Systems is the main UK company involved in the production of F-35 fighter planes. These aircraft are used by the Israeli airforce to bomb Gaza and 15% of the components of these jets are produced in the UK. BAE also supplies the Israeli military with ‘munitions, missile launching kits, and armored vehicles.’

QinetiQ QinetiQ is the 8th largest UK arms company, privatised from the MoD in 2001. QinetiQ were part of the UK team in the development of the Watchkeeper drone. The drone is based on the Hermes 450, described as the ‘workhorse’ of the Israeli military in its operations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Between 2008 and 2021, QinetiQ received 8 licenses from the UK Government government to export military goods to Israel. QinetiQ has also provided ‘field services’ to Israel, including ‘everything from logistics and mission planning to full operation of the target systems.’

QinetiQ is involved in partnerships with Elbit Systems, the primary provider of the Israeli military’s land-based equipment and unmanned aerial vehicles.

Meggitt Meggitt is a British company specialising in components and sub-systems for the aerospace and defence markets. Meggitt has played a key role in the production of Israeli’s Apache attack helicopters. These have been deployed in Gaza and the West Bank. Several key Apache components are manufactured in the UK, including the air data system, which Meggitt produces.

Between 2008 and 2021, Meggitt applied for 38 export licenses for military goods to Israel.

Babcock Babcock is a British arms company which works in partnership with Israeli arms companies including Elbit systems, Rafael and Israeli Aerospace Industries. Between 2008 and 2021 Babcock applied to the British government for 12 arms export licenses to supply weapons, components or military technology to Israel.

MBDA MBDA is a missile and missile systems producer, which was formed in 2001 from the merger of the missile systems units of BAE Systems in the UK, Airbus in France, and Leonardo in Italy. It is owned 37.5% each by Airbus and BAE, and 25% by Leonardo. MBDA provides missiles systems to more than 90 armed forces worldwide. It is Europe’s dominant missile manufacturer. It is a joint venture of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo.

3

N GENOCIDE Cobham Cobham is a British aerospace manufacturing company. It has applied for 72 licenses to export military goods to Israel between 2008 and 2021. Cobham has a significant military electronics business, although it has sold various business units to other companies. In 2022, Cobham acquired another UK arms company, Ultra Electronics. This followed a UK government inquiry into the national security implications of the sale, after which the government approved the deal, subject to certain conditions. Technologies from Cobham and Ultra Electronics are embedded in the F-35 jets used by the IOF. Thales In 2022, 51% of Thales’ revenue derived from the sale of arms. Thales is 26% owned by the French state and almost half its employees are in France. However, it also has substantial production in many other countries including the UK, the US, Australia and Germany. Thales worked with Elbit Systems on the development of the Watchkeeper drone, based on the Israeli Hermes 450, described as the ‘workhorse’ of Israel’s military in its operations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Between 2008 and 2021, Thales applied for 2 licenses to export military goods to Israel.

Airbus Airbus is one of the largest arms companies of the world. This is despite the fact that its arms sales comprise only 14% of its total company sales. It produces military helicopters and other aircraft, as well as space systems, connected intelligence and unmanned aerial systems. It has a 37.5% stake in MBDA, Europe’s dominant missile manufacturer. Between 2008 and 2021, Airbus applied for 1 UK license to export military goods to Israel. Airbus is currently part of a joint venture to produce a remotely piloted aircraft system with Israel Aerospace Industries and the Israeli Ministry of Defense’s Directorate of Defense Research and Development.

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce produces military aircraft engines, naval engines, power supplies for military vehicles and cores for nuclear submarines, alongside other non-military ventures. Arms comprise 32% of its total sales. It applied for 1 UK license to export military goods to Israel between 2008 and 2021.

Rolls-Royce is involved in manufacturing components of the F-35 aircraft, which has been used by Israel in the bombing of Gaza in 2023-2024. In 2014, the year of Israel’s aerial bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza, which killed over 2,200 civilians, Rolls-Royce was granted export licenses for engines for military aircrafts to Israel.

4

RESEARCH PARTNERSHIPS WHAT ARE RESEARCH PARTNERSHIPS? Research partnerships involve companies funding grants for research projects that are undertaken by an academic or group of academics at the University. Several of the grants that the University of Exeter is currently in receipt of are in partnership with companies which are listed by the Campaign Against Arms Trade as having been issued licenses to supply arms to Israel since 2008.

Companies involved in research partnerships with the University will have access to the research that is produced. When the university accepts grants in partnership with complicit companies, research products may be utilised in arms technologies, or to create profit for companies who then reinvest these dividends in arms manufacture.

“WE HAVE A HISTORY OF SUCCESSFUL RELATIONSHIPS WITH GOVERNMENT AND INDUSTRY, WITH OVER 100 ACADEMICS FROM THE UNIVERSITY WORKING ON DEFENCE, SECURITY AND CONFLICT PROJECTS” UNIVERSITY OF EXETER

KEY STATISTICS The value of disclosed, active grants where arms companies are listed as partners is £5.86M+. This figure is calculated from the total value of the four grants listed on the following page.

There are 7 active disclosed active projects with arms companies at the University of Exeter (including two secondary partnerships and one partnership with QinetiQ for which information has been withheld).

Key partners who applied to the UK government for licenses to export military goods to Israel since 2008 are Cobham, MBDA, Meggitt, QinetiQ, BAE Systems, Babcock, Airbus, Rolls-Royce.

5

KEY COMPLICIT PARTNERSHIPS ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT Multifunctional High Entropy Carbide and Boride (HECARBO) Ceramic Composites: Compositional Space, Novel Synthesis, and Property Tailoring This project includes QinetiQ as a partner, along with other non-arms companies. The grant is worth £506,805 and ends 31/01/27. The technology is said to have applications in “armour, aerospace, refractories, cutting tools, hypersonic vehicles, catalysis, and nuclear reactors.”

The Future is Remanufacturing: Composites for Life This project includes Meggitt as a partner, along with other non-arms companies. The grant is worth £448,363 and ends 01/09/24. The technology is said to have “both automotive and aviation applications.”

PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY DEPARTMENT A-Meta: A UK-US Collaboration for Active Metamaterials Research This project includes Airbus, BAE Systems, QinetiQ and Thales as partners, along with other non-arms companies. The grant is worth £1,529,762 and ends on 31/01/26. Metamaterials are said to have applications in a range of markets including: “telecommunications, aerospace, medical, sensors, automotive radar, imaging, anti-counterfeiting, camouflage, vibration suppression and more.”

UK Metamaterials Network This project includes Airbus, BAE Systems, MBDA, QinetiQ, Cobham, Thales, and RollsRoyce as partners, along with other non-arms companies. The grant is worth £3,376,144 and ends 30/09/28. “In terms of applications, metamaterials have phenomenal potential, in important areas, from energy to ICT, defence & security, aerospace, and healthcare… the Network will provide the stimulation of a discovery-innovation-enterprise cycle to meet desired outcomes for prosperity and consequentially, society, defence, and security.”

There are also two secondary partnerships (cases in which Exeter academics are involved as research collaborators) at other universities that also have arms companies as listed partners) involving QinetiQ and others. These can be viewed on the ESPRC and UKRI websites.

6

NOT JUST ARMS: COMPLICITY IN APARTHEID

The university is also in receipt of six grants in partnership with IBM worth at least £13,148,804. These projects are associated with AI technology, electronic devices, information and knowledge management, quantum optics and information and ultrafast computing. They are in the departments of Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics and Physics.

IBM is complicit in Israeli apartheid through its collaboration with the Israeli Population, Immigration and Borders Authority to design and operate a new system for the Population Registry database. This database includes data on all Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, occupied East Jerusalem non-citizen residents, and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. The database is, according to Who Profits, ‘systematically used by Israel for the implementation of discriminatory policies against Palestinians who are eligible for different rights under Israeli control, including discrimination in the relation to freedom of movement, voting, family reunification and access to services.’

IBM further works closely with the Israeli police and military to provide computing and data storage facilities.

(Who Profits, 2024)

THE TOTAL VALUE OF DISCLOSED GRANTS AWARDED TO PROJECTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER WHERE COMPLICIT COMPANIES (INCLUDING ARMS COMPANIES AND IBM) ARE LISTED AS PARTNERS IS £19M+.

7

WHAT ARE THE UNIVERSITY’S ETHICS POLICIES GOVERNING PARTNERSHIPS?

Partnerships with arms companies complicit with Israeli war crimes clearly contravene the university’s ethical policies governing partnerships.

ETHICS POLICY The University-wide ethics policy says: “we aim to underpin our external affairs with ethical considerations concerning the selection and development of external relationships and the criteria by which we engage in commercial activities” and includes “respect for relevant international laws and conventions.” Partnerships with arms manufacturers which enable Israel to commit war crimes against Palestinian civilians are neither ethical, nor do they show respect for international law (Israel is using these weapons to commit recognised war crimes).

DUE-DILIGENCE POLICY In the formation or development of partnerships, the University must refer to its duediligence policy to ensure that any partnership is consistent with the university’s standards of integrity and ethical considerations. According to this policy: “The University will normally avoid engaging with, developing relationships/partnerships with or accepting funding from individuals or organisations that do not demonstrate [ethical practices] or that have been proved to have acted in a way that may harm the University’s reputation or contravenes the University’s Ethics Policy.”

We ask, how can the partnerships listed above, with arms companies, match the ethical standards outlined in the University ethics policy? The fact that these partnerships exist is evidence that the University does not follow its own due diligence procedures or adhere to its stated ethics policies.

Moreover, the due-diligence policy also advocates for managing “funding and contractual and commercial relationships in a transparent, and open manner.” By refusing to fully disclose its links with arms companies which enable Israel’s war crimes (i.e. through failing to respond fully to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests [see here, for example]), the university is in breach of its own policy concerning transparency around its external relationships.

8

The due-diligence policy mentions Human Rights Watch as a research source for carrying out due-diligence checks to ensure that any potential partnership is consistent with the University’s ethical policies and do not cause reputational harm. Human Rights Watch has published multiple reports in the last year alone about Israel’s war crimes on civilians and aid workers, which are committed with weapons supplied by companies that the University is in partnership with.

STRATEGY 2030 Exeter’s Strategy 2030 states that it wishes to ‘use the power of our education and research to create a sustainable and socially just future.’ It explicitly mentions in the full strategy brochure that ‘through our ethical partnerships and investments, we will maximise our positive impact on the world.’

The University exploits the language of social justice and ethics to present its Strategy 2030. But its claims to participating in “ethical partnerships” are blatantly untrue as these partnerships include relations with arms companies which are complicit in Israel’s war crimes. The University is clearly and consistently breaching its own stated values and policies.

These are the three main components of the University’s Strategy 2030: 1. ‘Lead meaningful action against the climate emergency and ecological crisis’ The world’s militaries account for 5.5% of CO2 emissions globally. How does working with the defence sector help us fight the climate crisis?

2. ‘Make key breakthroughs to transform human wellbeing’ Arms development certainly transforms human health and wellbeing...but for the better?

3. ‘Lead the progress towards creating a fair, socially just and inclusive society’ Is apartheid, occupation and genocide fair, socially just and inclusive?

“WE WILL USE THE POWER OF OUR EDUCATION AND RESEARCH TO CREATE A SUSTAINABLE, HEALTHY AND SOCIALLY JUST FUTURE. OUR SHARED PURPOSE AND VISION WILL CONTINUALLY MOVE US FORWARD TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO OUR PEOPLE, OUR COMMUNITIES, OUR PARTNERS, AND THE WORLD AROUND US.” UNIVERSITY OF EXETER, STRATEGY 2030

WE ASK: HOW DO PARTNERSHIPS WITH ARMS COMPANIES ACHIEVE THESE GOALS?

9

LET’S WORK TOGETHER TO ACHIEVE STRATEGY 2030 As a student movement, we are committed to the university’s values of advancing human health and well-being, leading progress toward a fair, socially just, and inclusive society, and taking meaningful action against climate change and the ecological crisis.

We are a movement that supports the values of fighting for justice, equality, and the rejection of oppression, inequality, and violence. We reject being part of a community that condones the export of weapons to Israel, promotes human rights abuses or justifies genocide. These activities contradict the commitment to fairness and social justice that the university espouses.

We stand for values that call out activities causing substantial environmental damage.

We protest the university’s complicity in supporting companies that exacerbate the ecological crisis, undermining the university’s commitment to environmental sustainability.

We raise the voice of those whose human health and well-being are being destroyed by the weapons supplied by companies we have partnerships with—designed to cause harm and destruction, loss of life, physical injuries, psychological trauma, and longterm health crises. Supporting or benefiting from such partnerships undermines a commitment to advance health and well-being.

These are the values we champion. We choose to fight for a just society where we can democratically protest and raise our concerns about lack of inclusivity, oppression, and destruction.

Our hope is to engage with the university based on its stated goal of developing critical, creative, and empowered individuals through educational programs, creating knowledge, making discoveries, and providing solutions. We want to work together to create a sustainable, healthy, and socially just future. If we are not able to achieve this, what is the point of our research if it contradicts this vision? The students want to be part of the future that the University envisages, where we promote sustainable and environmentally friendly approaches, this is our chance. Otherwise, the university is being hypocritical by promoting military, security, and defense and weapons research.

How can the university claim to be a globally networked institution creating strong partnerships to tackle the world’s biggest challenges? How can the university enhance its international reputation while investing in research and education that contradict its commitments to environmental sustainability, human health, and social justice? How can it increase the international diversity of its student and staff community when it silences Palestinian demands for justice?

10

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS WHAT ARE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS? Strategic partnerships are formal, long-term collaboration projects between the university and industry/corporate partners, agreeing to share finance, expertise and resources in the pursuit of mutually beneficial goals. The University has strategic partnerships with companies listed by the Campaign Against Arms Trade as having been issued weapons export licences to Israel since 2008. These are: Babcock, QinetiQ and Smiths Group (through its subsidiary, Smiths Detection).

An example of how these strategic partnerships give arms companies a say in the direction of the University’s research is clear in the fact that Mark Westcott, a Mechanical Design Engineer at Babcock International Group, sits on the Engineering Industrial Advisory Group of the University. The members of this group act as ‘independent advisors on matters of policy and future direction of the Department of Engineering’ and ‘work with the Head of Department and staff to determine and agree matters of priority for Department of Engineering activities.’

The University has expressed a desire to expand its research within what it calls ‘defence and security’, which includes collaboration with companies such as BAE systems, Babcock and QinetiQ, among other partnerships. The University’s 2023-2024 Sector Plans outlines a ‘Defence and Security Institutional Review’, led by the HASS Faculty (humanities, arts and social sciences) ‘to capture the breadth of capability and investment requirements to grow future activity across disciplines.’

In an internal-facing version of this brochure, the University noted “defence industry support for EPSRC metamaterials CDT [centre for doctoral training] and ongoing work towards attracting investment for a Metamaterials Hub,” evidence that the research on metamaterials that is undertaken in Exeter’s Physics department is indeed being used to develop materials with applicabilities to the manufacture of arms and other military technologies. In this version of the brochure, Babcock and QinetiQ are listed as strategic partners, and BAE systems is listed as a key industry partner.

The university clearly sees conflict and war as an economic opportunity to be taken advantage of. In the same brochure, it highlights “opportunities” entailed in D&S spending, as a result of the Ukraine War. It is clear that the university is aware of interest in its research from the “defence” industry and is actively seeking to exploit this.

11

RELATIONSHIPS WITH COMPLICIT ISRAELI ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS

We know of three existing relationships and projects that the University of Exeter has with Tel Aviv University (TAU). TAU is complicit in a number of ways with the war crimes committed by the Israeli army, including but not limited to involvement in research and development for the Israeli military.

These partnerships are: The UK-Israel innovation researcher mobility scheme, which enables UK-based researchers to travel to Israel and work jointly with Israeli partners. Exeter is listed on the Universities UK website as being partnered with Tel Aviv University under this scheme. The University has recently refuted that this constitutes a formal partnership, and we ask them to put out a public statement refuting that this is the case, as if so, the wording on the Universities UK website is misleading.

An EU project in collaboration with other European partners involving “Terahertz Antennas with Self-amplified Spontaneous Emission” worth €151,800.00. This project lists Tel Aviv University as a partner and expires on 31st March 2025.

A NATO project entitled: “Constructing Novel Non-Classical States of Electromagnetic Field for Far-Field Sensing, RADAR and LIDAR Applications” worth €86,020.This project has an Exeter PI and is a joint project with UWM, TAU, and the Institute of Physics, Belarus.

Until March 2024, the university was involved in a project called the Melody Project involving developing redox flow batteries. The project included Technion University as a partner. Technion is another Israeli university complicit in Israel’s war crimes, for example developing the remote control capabilities for the Caterpillar D9 armoured bulldozer used by the Israeli military to demolish Palestinian homes.

For more information on the relationship of Israeli academic institutions to the ongoing occupation, apartheid and genocide in Palestine, we recommend Maya Wind’s Towers of Ivory and Steel: How Israeli Universities Deny Palestinian Freedom.

12

OTHER COMPLICIT PARTNERSHIPS Consultancy A March 2022 FOI indicated that Exeter carried out consultancy for Babcock, Collins Aerospace, Leonardo and Thales. It is unclear whether this is separate from the research partnerships above. This information needs to be disclosed.

Degree Apprenticeships In response to an FOI request from Demilitarise Education dated 1st May 2024, the University stated that it has worked previously with Babcock, Rolls-Royce, Serco, Airbus, Leonardo MW, MoD and DSTL to provide degree apprenticeships. No further information such as numbers were provided. This information needs to be disclosed.

Studentships and Fellowships We have found 10 examples of PhDs at least part-funded by companies on the CAAT list through studentships and fellowships. Although this information is publicly accessible on the University website, we are choosing not to disclose the details of these studentships as we do not wish to target or shame individual students. However, the companies involved in studentship funding are Thales, QinetiQ and Leonardo and research funding includes the application of metamaterials to antenna efficiency, noise reduction and longrange identification and sensing, all of which have potential applications within military technologies.

13

INVESTMENT POLICIES There is no evidence that the University directly invests in companies complicit in Israeli war crimes through its endowment policy. Its investment policy recommends strongly against investing in companies involved in manufacturing arms and ammunition.

However, there is no iron-clad guarantee that it will not do so in the future, as the university has no exclusion policy against investing in arms and ammunition as it does against tobacco and fossil fuel extraction.

Moreover, in an email sent by the University to students and staff on 5th June 2024, responding to the demands of the Exeter Liberation Encampment for Palestine, it states the following: ‘We accept that some of the companies in which our investment managers or their agents may have made minor investments that can be shown to have indirect links to Israel, but these do not include directly funding defence or the armed forces.’

The University disclosed to us that its indirect investments include Booking.com and an Israeli company called Ami’ad. Booking.com profits from occupied Palestinian lands by renting accommodations in illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Ami’ad’s founders were among the first to form a unit in the Palmach, an illegal Zionist militant group involved in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in 1947-1948, prior to the establishment of the Israeli settler-colonial state. This company manufactures water filtration solutions, while Palestinians have no sovereignty over or access to any water sources.

We ask that the University is fully transparent about these investments and the ‘indirect’ links that they have to Israel. As part of this transparency, we ask that the University makes the governing documents for its ‘general fund’ investments publicly available, as this does not appear currently to be in the public domain.

The fact that, according to its investment policy the university avoids investing in arms and ammunition demonstrates that it considers the arms industry unethical, placing it in the same list as practices such as child labour and modern slavery.

If the university considers the arms industry too unethical to invest in, then how can it be ethical to enjoy research partnerships with arms companies?

This position is logically and morally inconsistent.

14

The University of Exeter markets itself as an ethical institution deeply concerned with its impact on the wider community and the world, while at the same time maintaining partnerships with companies and institutions which supply Israel with the weapons and technology it requires to commit the crimes of apartheid and genocide against Palestinians. These companies and institutions continue to enable Israel’s violations of international law. They do this in spite of innumerable condemnations of Israel’s crimes from the United Nations; leading human rights organisations accusing Israel of implementing a system of Apartheid; a ruling from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that found that Israel was “plausibly” committing genocide in Gaza; and now even arrest warrants for Israeli leaders issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Despite all of this, the University is actively choosing to maintain its ties with companies and institutions which are complicit in Israel’s war crimes and apartheid.

As long as it continues to do this, we argue that the University of Exeter is morally complicit in Israel’s violations of international law and human dignity.

In view of this, we demand that the University of Exeter DIVESTS from the strategic and research partnerships with arms companies and technology companies that we have outlined above, and cuts ties with them. For the university to do otherwise would be to contradict its own stated ethical policies and values.

Further to this, we demand that the University of Exeter follows through on its commitment to transparency, by disclosing the full extent of its ties to these companies which have until now remained opaque.

We also demand that the University of Exeter BOYCOTTS Israeli academic institutions which enable the Israeli state to commit its crimes. We therefore call on the University to withdraw from the partnerships with Tel Aviv university which we have outlined above.

These demands are simple and reasonable. The University of Exeter has not only a moral imperative to meet our demands but also a reputational one. The university cannot continue to promote itself as an institution that cares about its ethical impact while maintaining the partnerships that we outline in this report.

15

UNTIL THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER DOES THE RIGHT THING AND ACCEPTS THESE DEMANDS, WE WILL CONTINUE TO HIGHLIGHT ITS TIES TO COMPANIES COMPLICIT IN CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY AND, IN DOING SO, EXPOSE THE UNIVERSITY’S COMMITMENT TO MAXIMISING ITS “POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE WORLD” AS LACKING IN SUBSTANCE AND INTEGRITY.

16

N O

R L BERAT E I ET

TIN

M

ES

AM

P

E

DIVEST BOYCOTT SUPPORT SAFEGUARD

ENC

We are the Exeter Liberation Encampment for Palestine.

As students of the University of Exeter, we have established an encampment on campus to protest the University’s complicity in the ongoing Israeli occupation and genocide of the Palestinian people. This escalation follows numerous attempts to engage with the administration over our demands, exhausting our avenues for protest, only to be met with inaction and apathy. We stand united with over 150 student encampments worldwide, all refusing to allow our universities to profit from and enable the Israeli occupation, asserting that our education cannot coexist with the oppression of Palestinians.

EX

WHO ARE WE?

EN

T FOR P

AL

@ELE4PAL Ele4Pal@gmail.com

WHAT ARE OUR DEMANDS? DIVEST Divest from and cut ties with all military, defence and security companies and partnerships directly and indirectly involved in and benefitting from the occupation, oppression and genocide in Palestine and elsewhere.

BOYCOTT Boycott Israeli universities and research partnership programmes, including the University of Tel Aviv.

SUPPORT Support Palestinian education by offering at least one scholarship in each department for students/scholars from Gaza and also establishing partnerships with Palestinian universities to collaborate on rebuilding education in the Gaza Strip.

SAFEGUARD Safeguard the protection of academic freedom and freedom of speech for students, staff, and allies engaging in supporting Palestine.

17