{
"type": "rich",
"version": "1.0",
"provider_name": "Action Network",
"provider_url": "https://actionnetwork.org",
"html": "",
"author_name": "Divestment UNB",
"author_url": "https://actionnetwork.org/users/divestment-unb/profile",
"title": "Demand that the University of New Brunswick Divest from Israel",
"thumbnail_url": "https://can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/petitions/photos/000/521/898/normal/Petition_Banner_2.png",
"description": "We are a group of UNB students, staff, faculty, alumni, and other community members who have grave concerns about UNB's affiliations with Israeli institutions. We are bringing this petition forward alongside endorsements of support from Palestine Solidarity Committee Saint John and Fredericton Palestine Solidarity. It has come to our attention that the University of New Brunswick maintains various ties with Israeli entities, including research partnerships, financial investments, and student exchanges [1]. Of particular concern is the university’s partnership between the Canadian Institute for Cybersecurity and CyberSpark, the Israeli cybersecurity institute which has direct connections to the Israeli Defense Forces [2,3,4]. CyberSpark is the home of Unit 8200, the IDF's elite intelligence unit responsible for operating AI and machine learning weapons targeting systems, which was the subject of an extensive investigative report into its involvement in massacres of civilians [5,6]. We believe that partnerships, such as the one with CyberSpark, are ethically and morally unacceptable given the Israeli government's persistent violations of human rights and international law in its domination of the Palestinian people, the occupation of Palestinian territories, and the ongoing war on Gaza [7,10,11]. The Israeli government's policies, including the occupation of Palestinian territories, the construction of illegal settlements, systematic discrimination against Palestinians which constitutes apartheid, the blocking of aid and the ongoing war on Gaza have been widely condemned by the international community and numerous human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, and United Nations bodies [10,11,12]. Since October 7th, 2023, Israel has destroyed virtually all of the Gaza Strip, killed at least 35,287 Palestinians, including 14500 thousand children, and injured 78,000, as of May 7th, 2024 [13].This has rendered 1.9 million Gazans internal refuges. Most of these have moved to 'safe-zones' such as Rafah, which has come under increasing bombardment and is now facing a potential full scale invasion [14]. The International Court of Justice ruled in January that Israel’s military operations in Gaza may plausibly constitute genocide [15]. This finding has been echoed by Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, who stated in March that "there are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating the commission of the crime of genocide…has been met" by Israel's actions in Gaza [16]. By maintaining associations, partnerships, and investments with Israel, the University of New Brunswick risks complicity in these grievous human rights violations, including the plausible charge of genocide [17]. As members of the university community, we cannot stand idly by while our institution supports and partners with entities that are implicated in these crimes against international and humanitarian law. Please sign the petition below, which will be sent to the UNB administration.",
"url": "https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/demand-that-the-university-of-new-brunswick-divest-from-israel"
}