During Israeli Apartheid Week, there was an incident on the Solbosch campus on Wednesday. It was described as anti-Semitic by the Union of Belgian Jewish students (UEJB).
The Rector has therefore asked to see the committee of Boycott, Disinvestment, Sanctions (BDS) and the UEJB on Thursday. The meeting’s aim was to work out exactly what happened. At the student’s request, the ULB has agreed to work with them to create a debate platform on the Israeli-Palestine issue. This will allow contradictory and dispassionate points of view to be heard, explains Nicolas Dassonville, head of communication at the ULB. As part of Israeli Apartheid Week at the Solbosch campus, on Wednesday members of the BDS created a “Wall” denouncing the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. Jewish students were taken to one side and called “terrorists, fascists and Zionists”.
“Following the meeting organised by the ULB Rector, the UEJB and the BDS agree that the way BDS members behaved towards members of the UEJB and students at the demonstration was regrettable and damaging”, says Nicolas Dassonville, the head of communication at the ULB.
“The UEJB and the BDS also agree that a video of the incident edited and released by the UEJB did not correctly reflect the chronology of events, and gave a partial view of the truth. Even if the UEJB remains firmly opposed to the BDS campaign, the students from the two bodies have committed to mutually respecting one another in the future. They each recognise the other’s right to defend their ideas, without creating conflict in the student community, and without stigmatising contradictory points of view. They also agree the other has the right to express themselves, while conforming to the ULB’s values”, he said.
(Source: Belga)
