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Trinity College Dublin protest: What links does the Irish university have to Israel?

Three firms in college endowment fund are on a UN human rights agency ‘blacklist’ for doing business in illegal Israeli settlements

The grounds at Trinity College Dublin, including the Old Library and Book of Kells Experience, remain closed to the public on Sunday. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill

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Jack White
Sun May 5 2024 - 17:25

An encampment erected on the Trinity College Dublin (TCD) campus as well as a blockade at the entrance to the Book of Kells will remain indefinitely, until demands are met, according to students protesting on campus.

It is the latest action taken by TCD students in their efforts to get the university to cut ties with Israel, but what exactly are these ties?

What links does TCD have to Israel?

Perhaps most contentious for protesters is Trinity’s Endowment Fund which includes investments in several Israeli companies, three of which are on a United Nations human rights agency “blacklist” for doing business in illegal settlements.

Freedom of Information (FoI) records issued to TCD Students’ Union (TCDSU) president László Molnárfi and seen by The Irish Times show the university’s endowment fund has invested in 13 Israeli companies.

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Three of these companies feature on the 2020 United Nations Human Rights Council list of companies involved in illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. A total of 112 companies were named in the council’s report.

“The fact-finding mission set out a list of activities that had raised particular human rights concerns,” it read.

Among TCD’s investments is Bank Leumi which is on the list due to its “provision of services and utilities supporting the maintenance and existence of settlements, including transport”.

It was also listed as having “banking and financial operations helping to develop, expand or maintain settlements and their activities, including loans for housing and the development of businesses”.

Students encamped in TCD in protest at the university’s ties with Israel will stay “indefinitely, until our demands are met”, a spokesman for the group said.

Shapir Engineering and Energix Renewable Energies which are also among the TCD investments were found to be using natural resources, in particular water and land, for business purposes.

Shapir Engineering was also listed as supporting “the maintenance and existence” of settlements.

The 13 companies form part of TCD’s “Climate Focused Fund” investment.

Other investments include Wix, an Israeli software company. In October, The Irish Times reported that the company which employs 500 staff in Dublin encouraged its employees to create content supporting “Israel’s narrative” in the country’s conflict with Hamas militants.

Alongside investments, the FoI records show business arrangements with 10 Israeli suppliers including 3D Lasertec, Enspire Science, Mediclever and Beacon Tech.

What academic ties does TCD have with Israel?

Alongside investments, protesters are calling on the university to cut academic ties to Israeli institutions.

Among those ties, seen under the FoI records, are partnerships between TCD and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem as well as with Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan.

The agreements are in place through TCD’s Department of Near and Middle Eastern Studies and the School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies. They allow for student and staff mobility between both universities.

The university is also linked to Israeli institutions through several EU-funded research projects.

For example, TCD is one of 11 partners alongside Tel Aviv University participating in the Expert medical research project, funded under the European Union’s Horizon programme, which concerns the use of mRNA-based nanomedicines for heart disease and cancer.

TCD is also collaborating with staff from the Weizmann Institute of Science, based in Rehovot, Israel on research concerning immune sensing and signalling.

How do other universities compare?

The University of Galway was hailed as a “good model” in its response to the ongoing crisis in Gaza by Mr Molnárfi.

In February, Prof Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, president of the University of Galway, described the destruction of universities in Gaza and the killing of students and academics by Israeli forces as “grievous”.

Mr Ó hÓgartaigh vowed to strengthen relationships with universities in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, while also pledging to review the university’s relationship with Israeli institutions.

Mr Molnárfi said the union’s call for boycotts, divestment and sanctions means taking every possible step to begin the process of complete divestment from Israel wherever applicable, “which Trinity hasn’t done”.

Students at other universities including University College Cork have staged walkouts in recent months demanding public statements in support of a ceasefire in Gaza. Similar protests have been seen across the world in the US, Switzerland, Canada and Australia.

What are the protesters’ other demands?

Alongside a cut to all ties with Israeli companies and institutions, protesters have called on TCD to make “an unequivocal statement of solidarity condemning the ongoing genocide, destruction of infrastructure, settler-colonialism, apartheid and occupation of Palestine”.

The group has also called on TCD to commit to “reparations” which would fully support 100 Palestinian scholars to undertake their studies at the university.

What has the university said about its ties to Israel?

TCD says it shares concerns about the “ferocious onslaught in Gaza and the ongoing dire humanitarian crisis”.

“We have taken a number of practical steps in response to the war in Gaza. These range from updating our investment portfolio with a view to excluding UN blacklist companies, and to providing supports for students from Gaza coming to study in Trinity,” said a spokesperson.

TCD provost Dr Linda Doyle said the university’s investment portfolio will be updated “with reference to the UN blacklist”.

She added that individual companies are not “handpicked” by Trinity but generated by investment managers.

In terms of academic ties, Ms Doyle said some within TCD believe all ties with Israeli institutions should be cut while others see value in maintaining a free exchange of ideas.

“Others will feel deeply uncomfortable having any relationship at all. Fundamentally, it is the right of the individual academic to make this decision, and no assumption about an academic’s political views should be inferred from those decisions,” she said.

“I do not want to see the erosion of academic freedom in Ireland, in a way we have seen in other countries.”

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