The education community across the continent of Australia united against scholasticide and genocide in Palestine — the complicity of the leaders of the education sector must end!

We, the undersigned who represent the diverse education community across the continent of Australia, demand an end to the complicity of the Australian education sector’s leaders in the systematic destruction and attempted annihilation of the Palestinian education system. Israel’s latest assault on Gaza, for now over a year, extends from a 76-year long history of the 1948 Nakba in which education has long been a target. Against all odds, Palestinians have resisted such violence through education.

We are a collective of Australian-based educators, teachers, academics, TAFE staff, students, researchers, university staff, school staff, pre-service teachers, education support staff, and education affiliates who condemn the role that the leaders of our education systems and institutions have played in enabling and facilitating Israel’s genocide and scholasticide in Palestine, including the intentional and violent destruction of places of knowledge, teaching, learning, and community building. We will not be complicit in the genocide of Palestinian people, land, and culture and the scholasticide that seeks to annihilate Palestinian education. We are in solidarity with our colleagues working in the education sector in Gaza who remain highly unionised and organised, school and university students in Gaza, and the transnational coalition, Scholars Against the War on Palestine. We build on numerous open letters, statements, campaigns, and the work of global and local education communities against the genocide and scholasticide in Palestine. We represent a united education community who collectively recognise the power of education to call into question systems of power, and to create different and better futures for all.

Scholasticide: the targeted destruction of Palestinian education

We understand the systematic destruction of Palestinian education that is occurring in the context of an ongoing genocide in Palestine as scholasticide. Scholasticide is a term created by Professor Karma Nabulsi, a professor of politics and international relations at Oxford University, to articulate a specific mechanism of genocide, characterised by the destruction of schools, universities, libraries, museums, and archives, and the targeting of professors, teachers, and students in Palestine. Every single university building in Gaza was destroyed within the first six months of Israel’s latest assault on Gaza. As of September 2024, 90% of schools in Gaza had been destroyed. Despite their status as safe zones, remaining school buildings continue to be bombed and besieged. This destruction is intentional: Eman Alhaj Ali, a Palestinian writer based in Gaza, writes:

For Palestinians, educational spaces have historically served as vital hubs for learning, revolutionary activism, cultural conservation and the preservation of relations between Palestinian lands cut off from each other by Israeli colonisation. Schools have always played a crucial role in the empowerment and movement for liberation of the Palestinian people.

Despite Israel’s continued attempts to destroy Palestinian culture, knowledge, and futures, Palestinian people continue to resist.

Over half a million students have now been deprived of formal education for a second year, with over 10,000 school students killed by Israeli Forces, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Education. As highlighted in a recent paper in the LANCET journal, the true scale of death remains to be known as data becomes increasingly difficult for the Gaza Health Ministry to collect due to the destruction of much of the infrastructure. Increasingly, schools in the West Bank have become sites of Israeli settler violence. At the same time, teachers and professors continue to be harassed, beaten, and murdered by Israeli forces. While much of this violence has been enacted directly, Israel has also employed indirect means, described as a “slow death” through Israel’s refusal to allow the provision of food, medicine, and safe shelter in Gaza.

In May 2024, Gaza academics penned a letter to the world:

We call upon our friends and colleagues around the world to resist the ongoing campaign of scholasticide in occupied Palestine, to work alongside us in rebuilding our demolished universities, and to refuse all plans seeking to bypass, erase, or weaken the integrity of our academic institutions. The future of our young people in Gaza depends upon us, and our ability to remain on our land in order to continue to serve the coming generations of our people … The rebuilding of Gaza’s academic institutions is not just a matter of education; it is a testament to our resilience, determination, and unwavering commitment to securing a future for generations to come…

We are in solidarity with our education colleagues and students from Gaza and their generations to come. Scholasticide in Palestine has been enabled by the very research partnerships and funding that uphold our educational systems and institutions in so-called Australia. Australia’s role in scholasticide mirrors the role of Australia’s frontier and settler government in utilising education as a tool to simultaneously exclude First Peoples, and to centre settler knowledge systems with the express aim of erasing and replacing First Peoples’ communities and knowledges – educational practices and policies that continue to actively and systemically exclude Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from education.

The education sector’s complicity in Israel’s Gaza genocide and scholasticide

The education institutions and systems we are affiliated with work in direct and indirect partnership with weapons companies and governments which arm Israel through often undisclosed contracts and other financial and non-financial arrangements; fund core curriculum through such partnerships; and undertake research that directly enables the violence of scholasticide and genocide in Palestine as well as other regimes of occupation, violence, and oppression across the world.

The increased militarisation of the education sector has been resisted by grassroots campaigns led by members of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) and the Australian Education Union (AEU). These include the successful academic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction (BDS) motions across several universities including the University of Sydney and University of Melbourne and the union members’ ban, Weapons out of Classrooms, led by Teachers and School Staff for Palestine Victoria. School students have led several strikes in support of Palestine, demanding government action to end the ongoing genocide. Tertiary students against genocide have risked their enrolments in the face of increasingly draconian anti-protesting policies on campus, establishing encampments and leading campaigns to call on our education institutions to cease enabling Israel’s genocidal regime. Such acts of resistance have been enacted in the face of the widespread silencing impact of the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism, taken up by five major universities despite staff concerns.

We echo the demands of these grassroots actions and campaigns, led by an intersection of members affiliated with the education sector across the continent. We demand our education systems and institutions actively divest from their complicity in Israel’s scholasticide in Palestine and genocide of Palestinian people. We demand an education sector on this continent and in Palestine that is free from the violence of occupation and militarisation and instead works towards justice and freedom for all.

OUR DEMANDS

We call on all leaders of education systems and institutions across the continent of Australia to:

• commit to the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction (BDS) movement by ending the Australian education sector’s support for Israel’s oppression of Palestinian people;
• immediately divest from and end all financial and non-financial education sector ties with weapons and military companies, including partnerships and investments related to research, development, and manufacturing, particularly those supporting Israel’s military capabilities;
• thoroughly review, disclose, and break ties with all financial and non-financial investments, tenders, contracts, and programs with companies and governments involved in arming Israel;
• sanction the Israeli government, Israeli universities, Israeli companies, and Israeli settlers including Australian citizens who have served in the Israeli Defence Force;
• end their reliance on the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism, so that the education sector’s necessary opposition to antisemitism does not impede the equally vital opposition to an Israeli state charged with apartheid and genocide; and
• immediately end and actively oppose all forms of racism and religious and cultural discrimination, including Islamophobia, anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian, and anti-Arab interpersonal, institutional, and systemic discrimination and harmful rhetoric.

This open statement initiated by the Stop Scholasticide AU campaign can be signed by the education community across the continent of Australia. Please share this open statement with your colleagues and comrades.

Signatories can include: educators, teachers, academics, TAFE staff, students, researchers, university staff, school staff, pre-service teachers, education support staff, education program facilitators, and education affiliates including, for example, mental health and wellbeing support workers, youth and social workers, education policy advisors, allied health professionals, and those who have retired. 

If you wish to add your name, you can use this form.

Visit Stop Scholasticide AU’s website for information about the Vigil for Scholasticide in Palestine, which is being held to honour our fallen colleagues and students in Palestine. You are invited to attend the vigil at 6:00pm on Thursday 28 November 2024, on the eve of International Day of Solidarity with Palestinian People, at Exhibition Fountain, Carlton Gardens (Carlton, VIC 3053).

Natalie Calleja, Researcher and Educator, VIC
Dr Fi Belcher, Research Fellow, VIC
Emilie Owens, Teacher, VIC
Pippa Tandy, Retired Teacher, VIC
Katrina Hansord, Research Support, VIC
Nejra Salihbegovic, PhD Student and University Casual Tutor, VIC
Ashley Tam, Secondary Teacher, VIC
Juanita Spinelli, Vocational Trainer, VIC
Therese Keogh, PhD Candidate and Lecturer, VIC
Markela Panegyres, Casual Academic, NSW
Jessica Osburn, Secondary Classroom Teacher, VIC
Rusaila Bazlamit, Lecturer, VIC
Angie Sassano, Research Fellow, VIC
Ciara O’Callaghan, Youth Educator, VIC
Bridget Allan, Student, VIC
Daniel Eideh, Educator, VIC
Michael Errity, Laboratory Technical Officer, VIC
Madeleine Logan, Teacher, VIC
Moya Richardson, Teacher, VIC
Ruth McGurk, Teacher
Scarlett O’Callaghan, Early Childhood Teacher, VIC
Elizabeth Kelly, Teacher, QLD
Adam Bulman, Teacher, VIC
Elly louchart, Teacher, VIC
Lloyd Riman, Education Support Worker, VIC
Caroline Hartley, Education Services Manager, VIC
Amy Johnston, Teacher, NSW
Kelvin, Master, VIC
Edie McAsey, Student, VIC
Nicole Everett, Teacher, NT
Nigel Gramp, House Leader / Teacher, SA
Honor Gillies, Teacher Librarian, VIC
Varisha Ariadna, Student, VIC
Anastasia Kanjere, Classroom Teacher, VIC
Hannah Bayston, Tertiary Student, VIC
Sandy Tu, Teacher, WA
Ashanti Permatasari, Early Childhood Teacher, VIC
Hannah Marshall, Administrator, VIC
Sarah Perrignon, Student, VIC
Arzu Cobanoglu, Teacher, VIC
Kaleb Dean Hendrikse, Former Outside School Hours Care Educator, VIC
Kath Magarey, Head Of Campus, SA
Mary Poile, High School Teacher, NSW
Anastasia La Fey, Inclusive Education/ Education Support, VIC
Eva Idham, Student and Ex Uni Tutor, VIC
Shaun Lilantha, 2023 Graduate From Rmit In Bachelor Of Applies Science (Psychology) (Honours), VIC
Des Polatidis, Teacher, VIC
Alastor Sam, Student, VIC
Seb Darling, Teacher, VIC
Amila, Teacher, VIC
Shahirah Alqadri, Classroom Teacher, VIC
Remy Bravery, Student Recruitment Coordinator, VIC
Sam Roberts, Youth Support, QLD
Ed Nicholson, Teacher, NT
Elaine Hadj, Allied Health, VIC
Carmen Reid, Sessional Academic and Post Graduate Student, VIC
Rebeca Kelly, Teacher, VIC
Elliot Dolan-Evans, Lecturer, VIC
Susanna Carnaghi, Teacher, NSW
Samanthi Gunawardana, Senior Lecturer, VIC
Daniel Twomey, Primary Teacher, VIC
Tim Delany, PhD Candidate. Former Teacher and Principal, VIC
Miriam Jones, Early Childhood Teacher, NSW
Hamish McPherson, Teacher, VIC
Mell Chun, Tutor, VIC
Stephanie Kay, Sso, VIC
Jordana Silverstein, Senior Research Fellow, VIC
Julia Dehm, Senior Lecturer, VIC
Nadia Mouchaileh, University Lecturer, VIC
Kathryn Ticehurst, Teaching Associate, University Of Melbourne, VIC
Mehza Salaroo, Homeschooling Mum, WA
Mara Quach, PhD Candidate, VIC
CLB, Student, VIC
Alex Florance-Curwood, Teacher, VIC
Sean Watson, Teacher, VIC
Julian Grace, Research Assistant, VIC
Kim andreassen, School Program Coordinator, WA
Dr Sophie Rudolph, Senior Research Fellow, VIC
Lucy Bell, Teaching Associate, VIC
Penni Russon, Senior Lecturer, VIC
Emily Direen, Lecturer / Indigenous Fellow, TAS
Nicholas Morris, Classroom Teacher, VIC
Wajeehah Aayeshah, Lecturer, VIC
Kate Jeoffreys, Student, VIC
Isabella Mead, PhD Candidate, VIC
Mathew Abbott, Senior Lecturer in Humanities, VIC
Moe McGlashan, Teacher, VIC
Tobie Lukin, Secondary Teacher, VIC
Scheherazade Bloul, Academic, VIC
Tony Williams, University TA, VIC
Elspeth Blunt, Teacher, VIC
Candice Firth, Teacher, WA
Anna Cagnoni, PhD Student, VIC
Laura Owsianka, Teacher, VIC
Catherine Nelsson, Teacher, VIC
Nicholas Heynsbergh, Teacher, VIC
Nick Riemer, Academic, NSW
Jessica Gannaway, Lecturer, VIC
Nicole Devine, Teacher, NSW
Olive Bowers, Student, VIC
Astrid Jian, Student, VIC
Sahar Ghumkhor, Academic, VIC
Fin Healy, University Tutor, VIC
Kim Lilith, Wellbeing Leader, SA
Chan A, Student, VIC
Ruby Hartley, School Librarian, VIC
Sam Passaniti, Secondary School Teacher, SA
Thao Phan, Lecturer, ACT
Athiqah Ummi Salma, Research Assistant, VIC
Dr Marcus Banks, Research, VIC
Hugh Simpson, Teaching Associate, VIC
Deanna Ramsey, Librarian, VIC
Jackson Matthews, Teacher, VIC
Kathleen Williams, Education Support Officer, VIC
Anna Tate, Teacher, SA
Ella Francis, Teacher, VIC
Justine Makdessi, Wellbeing Coordinator, VIC
Gulsen Tankir, Teacher, VIC
Meg Taranto, Workshop Leader and Performer In Schools, VIC
Laura Rodriguez Castro, Senior Lecturer, NSW
Aydogan Kars, Senior Researcher, VIC
Michael Skinner, Learning Advisor, VIC
Haris Jamil, PhD Candidate, VIC
Rachel Kennedy, PhD Candidate, NSW
Hanan Sahmoud, Graduate Student, VIC
Laura Griffin, Senior Lecturer, VIC
Johanna Commins, Lecturer, VIC
Karen Crawley, Senior Lecturer, QLD
Fleur Taylor, Vice-President, Professional Staff, NTEU VU Branch, VIC
Erin Fitz-Henry, Associate Professor, VIC
Maria Matheas, Student and University Worker, VIC
Tom Short, Sessional Tutor, VIC
Katrina Lawrence-Honeycombe, Tutor, VIC
Ruby Comte, Teaching Associate, VIC
Gemma Tarpey-Brown, PhD Candidate, VIC
Davor Petreski, Graduate Researcher, VIC
Shohini Sengupta, PhD Candidate, UNSW, PhD Candidate and Casual Academic, NSW
Ryan Al-Natour, Lecturer, NSW
Kylie Tran, Librarian, VIC
John Porter, Student, VIC
Alicia Dean, Teacher, SA
Bronte Alexander, Researcher, QLD
Blair Williams, Lecturer, VIC
Ohad Kozminsky, Teacher, VIC
Osca Monaghan, Lecturer, NSW
Charlie Sofo, Lecturer, VIC
Fiza Zali, Teacher Educator, VIC
Farida Iqbal, Pre-Service Teacher, VIC
Lara Brown, Professional Staff, VIC
Melissa Laing, Lecturer, VIC
Jaya Keaney, Lecturer, VIC
Juan-Camilo Riano-Rodriguez, PhD Candidate/Teacher, VIC
Meg Grealy, Research Officer, NSW
Tyler Gleason, PhD Candidate, VIC
Finn Bimard, Student, VIC
David Giles, Senior Lecturer, VIC
Luca, Masters of Teaching Student, VIC
Catherine Strong, Associate Professor, VIC
Jasper Kloss, Student, VIC
Alice Wighton, PhD Candidate, VIC
Merinda Brown, Lecturer, VIC
Ruthi Hambling, Professional Staff, VIC
Joshua Pocius, Lecturer, University Of Melbourne, VIC
Nik Tan-Mishra, Student, VIC
Ava McDermott, Student, VIC
Jill Pope, PhD Student and Tutor, VIC
Cate Mills, Ex Teacher, Education Department Worker, VIC
Conor Boyd-Eedle, Student, VIC
Matthew Taft, Sessional Tutor, VIC
Keara Quadros, Researcher, VIC
Quang Tung Nguyen, Student, VIC
Tasnim Mahmoud Sammak, Assistant Lecture, Monash Education, VIC
Alice Shires, Senior Lecturer, NSW
Belinda Pringle, Teacher, VIC
Kemal Kurniawan, Academic, VIC
Giulia DeVincentis, Teacher, VIC
Kim Percy, Academic, VIC
George Wood, PhD Candidate, VIC
Carolina Cabezas, Research Assistant, VIC
Aman, PhD Candidate, NSW
Ben Woods, Teaching Associate, VIC
Lachlan Challis, Classroom Teacher, VIC
Louisa Xia, Teacher, VIC
Kellie Donaldson, Education Support, VIC
Jonathan Sherlock, Teacher, VIC
Jillian Doughty, Teacher, VIC
Portia Janson, Teacher, VIC
Isaak Bovell, Teacher, VIC
Meg Crupi, Youth Worker, VIC
Chris Jobe, Teacher, VIC
Dr Chris Tirris (TCM), Education Support, VIC
Samantha Mannix, Research Fellow, VIC
Mick Roe, Teacher, VIC
Beth Sometimes, PhD Candidiate, NT
Emily Gu, Student/ Former School Admin Staff, VIC
Declan Hickey, Student, VIC
Gabriel Sathiaseelan, Classroom Teacher, VIC
Nonie May, Lecturer, VIC
Yamama Shourbaji, Teacher, VIC
George Maxwell, Teacher, VIC
Dr Jessica Marian, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, VIC
Dr Kate Just, Senior Lecturer in Art, VIC
Scott Howard, PhD Student, VIC
Nathan Fioritti, Research and Teaching Associate, VIC
Niamh Felton, Sessional Tutor, VIC
Lisa van Toor, Lecturer, WA
Rachel Yerbury, Psychology lecturer, Psychology Lecturer, NSW
Kathie, Postdoctoral Researcher, VIC
Dave Pollock, Lecturer/Course Coordinator, VIC
Dr Samantha Lukey, Senior Lecturer Social Work, NSW
Panos Karanikolas, Academic, VIC
Rachel Button, Teacher, VIC
Dr Victoria Mason, Senior Lecturer, Murdoch University, WA
Ivan Kotzur, Research Officer, PhD Candidate, VIC
Riyadh Al-Naseri, PhD Student, NSW
Ricardo Rojas Campos, Master’s Student & Tutor, VIC
Reginald Cooper, Teacher, VIC
Travis Thompson, Teacher, VIC
Ozlem Susler, Senior Lecturer, VIC
Williamina MacDonald, Teacher, VIC
Jessica Murdoch, Teacher, VIC
Jay Delves, PhD Student, NSW
Ella Broughton, Teacher, VIC
Campbell Rider, PhD Candidate and Casual Academic, University Of Sydney, NSW
Yew Aik Tan, Student, VIC
Leanna Azoury, Casual Academic, VIC
Madison Hooker, Tertiary Student & Oshc Educator, NSW
Curtin Palestinian Society, University Student Society, WA
Tahlia de Nazareth, Pre Service Teacher, WA
Rebecca Moodycliffe, Primary School Teacher, WA
Fayeza Khan, Science Teacher, WA
Wendy Tu, Teacher, WA
Vania Alarcon Castillo, PhD Student, VIC
Katherine Mackay, Technical Support Officer, WA
Annabelle Jackson, Student Services, WA
Rhyard Sahely, Teacher, WA
Laila Mahmud, Youth Worker, WA
Duale Siad, Student, VIC
Zane Mckeich, Pre-Service Teacher, WA
Joseph Pushpanathan, Student, WA
Paul Dodemaide, Lecturer, VIC
Dr Elizabeth Chapman, University Staff, VIC
John O’Rourke, English and Humanities Teacher, VIC
Dr Rhian Cramer, Lecturer, VIC
Dr Martin Clark, Lecturer, VIC
Aayla Reed, Student, WA
Liam Ward, Lecturer, RMIT University, VIC
Jack Desbiolles, Research Academic, SA
Conor McKenna, Teacher, WA
Paul Ritchard, Lecturer, VIC
Freya Higgins-Desbiolles, Adjunct Academic, SA
Alexander Parker, Pre-Service Teacher, WA
Daniel Keane, Teacher, VIC
Carina Ene, Librarian, VIC
Hanna Berglund, Student, VIC
Fayth Good, Teacher, WA
Kim Lilith, Wellbeing Leader, SA
J. Johnston, Administrator, VIC
Star Despotellis, Facilitator / Educator, VIC
Alexander Curl, Teacher, VIC
Aisha Sultan, PhD Candidate and Casual Academic, SA
Mary Jo Kelly, Teacher Vic, VIC
Marion Brook, Teacher, VIC
Paddy Gordon, Victoria University, VIC
Claire Broadfoot, Student, WA
Hannah Wright, Primary School Teacher, VIC
Claudia Farha, Library Technician, VIC
Tess Wright, Teacher, VIC
Souheir Edelbi, Lecturer, NSW
Cara-May McGrogan, Secondary Teacher, WA
Amanda Wise, Professor Of Sociology, NSW
Halimah McGlashan, Teacher, VIC
Eloise Mitchell, Teacher, VIC
Marziya Mohammedali, Phd Candidate, WA
Denis Crowdy, Senior Lecturer, NSW
Dianne Otto, Professorial Fellow, VIC
Chloe Ong, Secondary School Teacher, VIC
Lauren McCracken, University Staff, NSW
Erin Brannigan, Associate Professor UNSW, NSW
Gabrielle Ryan, Public Library Worker, VIC
Isabel Jackson, Tutor, VIC
Nicole Matthews, Associate Professor, NSW
Rachel Lamb, Secondary English Teacher, WA
Caroline Clarke, Teacher, VIC
Ersie-Marie Kakris, Primary School Teacher, VIC
Christina, Early Childhood Educator, VIC
Justine Lloyd, Senior Lecturer, Sociology, NSW
Dr Sara Cheikh Husain, Casual Lecturer and Researcher, VIC
Ruth De Souza, Lecturer, VIC
Abdul Rahman Reijerink, High School Teacher, NSW
Natalia Figueroa Barroso, Student (Canberra Uni), Post Graduate (UTS), NSW
Jumana Bayeh, Associate Professor, NSW
Fiona Millington, Clinical Educator Nurse, NSW
Rachel Yuen-Collingridge, Lecturer, NSW
Joanne Faulkner, Senior Lecturer, NSW
Annabelle Lkin, A/Professor, NSW
Paz Roman, Support Staff, NSW
Stefan Solomon, Senior Lecturer, NSW
Dr Colm Galvin, Mentor, NSW
Sarah Bailey, School Counsellor, NSW
Han Reardon-Smith, Postdoctoral Researcher, QLD
Rayann Bekdache, Correspondence Officer, NSW
Flávia Soares Julius, Phd Candidate and Casual Teacher – Macquarie University, NSW
Diane Wanasawage, Teacher, NSW
Susana Catalina Prat, Learning Designer, NSW
Jess McLean, Associate Professor, NSW
Aidan McAuley, Pre-Service Teacher, WA
Hannah Crosbie, Student, VIC
Dr. Antonina Gentile, Lecturer, NSW
Jodie Pall, Teacher, NSW
andrew Sutherland, Educator & Phd Candidate, VIC / WA
Emily Kaji, University Student, VIC
Manal Tuncer, Teacher, NSW
Michelle Hamadache, Lecturer, NSW
Olivia Serougi, Secondary Teacher, NSW
Dr Jonathan Strauss, Professional Worker, VIC
Christine Afoa, Project Officer, NSW
Samah Abdeljaleel, Student, VIC
Carolyn D’Cruz, Senior Lecturer, VIC
Matthias Boer, Professor, NSW
Aravindh Anura, Public Health Tutor and Academic Support Worker, VIC
Maha Rathborne, CRT, NS

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