Protests prevent the holding of an Israeli fair at Unicamp

Protests prevented the holding of the “Israeli Universities Fair” at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), this Monday (3). In a note, Unicamp’s rectory confirmed that the event had to be canceled “due to demonstrations against its occurrence”. Demonstrators led by the Palestinian Arab Federation of Brazil (Fepal) and Palestinian Youth (Sanaud) took a stand against the fair.

The facade of the Permanent Commission for Unicamp Entrance Examinations (Comvest) building – where the fair would be held – was spray-painted by protesters with the phrase “Free Palestine”, according to information from the CBN Campinas.

“The safe departure of the event’s promoting team took place after negotiations with representatives of the demonstration. Unicamp points out that the right to free demonstration will be guaranteed as long as these are carried out peacefully and as long as there is no impediment to academic activities duly authorized by the decision-making bodies of the University”, said the Unicamp rectory, in a note.

StandWithUs Brasil, an entity linked to the government of Israel, released a note of rejection about what happened. According to the organization, “more than 200 university students enrolled” to participate in the event “had their rights curtailed”. Also according to StandWithUs Brasil, team members would have witnessed alleged “aggressions against security guards and employees linked to participating universities” by the demonstrators.

According to the entity, the fair is an annual event promoted in partnership with major Brazilian universities, aiming at cooperation and academic exchange with Brazilian students. “Today’s mobilization and protests went beyond any limits understood as freedom of expression, disrespecting not only the educational institutions present there, but, above all, the young people who wanted to participate in the event”, said StandWithUs Brasil.

The Israeli Federation of the State of São Paulo (Fisesp) also released a note of rejection and stated that there was violence during the protests against the fair.

“The Israeli Federation of the State of São Paulo repudiates the marginal action of the demonstrators and affirms that Unicamp is a democratic space that even maintains six agreements with Israeli universities, always working towards mutual cooperation between the two countries. Violence is the main feature of some of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations around the world, here in Brazil we cannot allow that to happen”, quoted Fisesp in an excerpt from the note.

Fepal released a letter against the event

The Palestinian Arab Federation of Brazil (Fepal) released a letter, on March 23, in which it requested the cancellation of the event at the university. For Fepal, holding the fair of Israeli universities on the Unicamp campus “implies its adherence to apartheid in Palestine”.

“Israeli universities are strongly involved in the construction of Israel’s colonial and apartheid regime, generating knowledge and technologies applied in occupied Palestine and tested on the Palestinian people”, criticized the Palestinian entity.

In a video released on social networks this Monday (3), the president of Fepal, Ualid Rabah, said that the letter “generated a great movement of solidarity” and a “great mobilization” of social movements that support Palestine, which , according to him, made Unicamp go back and cancel the event.