UNE takes a 'balanced approach' as it considers cutting ties with Israel

A week after student protesters flew a six-metre Palestine flag as part of a demonstration at UNE Armidale, vice chancellor Chris Moran told the Leader there's a lot of "due diligence" the university must work through before considering any BDS-related decisions.

"What we're doing is looking very closely at our primary interactions; the primary licenses we've got, say for software and major procurement; what contracts or memoranda of understanding we might have with institutions in the area," Mr Moran said.

"We're taking a balanced approach. I've asked my university to supply me with information regarding both Palestine and Israel in this regard. As of today I have no indication we have any interactions with any defence primes [contractors]."

The vice chancellor said the question of divestment would take a substantial amount of time to investigate due to the complexities of superannuation, supply chains, and other financial arrangements.

"It's important the university gets to do its due diligence and work through that. If we had specific arrangements with arms suppliers connected to that dispute I would look very carefully at closing those down," he said.

But he also said it was important to keep in mind the request for UNE to sign the BDS statement came from the Armidale Friends of Palestine group, not university students themselves.

"The only sort of semi-demand that I have received is from an anonymous group, so the assertion that the university has received a specific demand from our students is not correct," he said.

The Leader contacted Armidale Friends of Palestine but the organisation did not respond.

Last week UNE released a statement condemning "all acts of aggressive war" and saying the institution supports free speech and the right of students and staff to protest.

Some students expressed outrage at the university taking a "position of neutrality" while Israel continues invading the southern Gazan city of Rafah.

"How can we feel safe if the university does not speak out against genocide?" a student protester at the Armidale campus said last week.

But Mr Moran says there's an important distinction between taking a "balanced" approach and a "neutral" one.

"There is no reason at all for any neighbouring nations to be behaving like [Israel and Palestine] are towards one another. One of them is much mightier than the other, and so you would have to say at some point it's just unreasonable to continue hostilities," he said.

Mr Moran also said he and the leadership of UNE did not believe Israel's actions constituted a genocide, but the institution supported the rights of staff and students to express opposing opinions.

"I don't support genocide, my institution doesn't support genocide, as we said we don't support any form of aggression," the vice chancellor said.

"On the question of divestment, or cutting ties, that's something we need to look at very carefully on the basis that the behaviour of Israel in the interaction at the moment - as the giant, powerful force - looks to me to be unreasonable compared to the force of the other, and so would we maintain a connection in support of that?

"It's not obvious to me that we should, but we need to look carefully, and I'm just one person, I need the governing board of my institution as well."

Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, killing 1200 people and taking more than 200 hostages.

In response, Israel launched air strikes and a ground invasion which, according to the local health ministry, has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, injured more than 80,000 and displaced more than 1.7 million.

About 1.1 million people in Gaza are estimated to face catastrophic levels of food insecurity as Israel blocks aid, with a recent UNICEF report saying nine out of 10 children in the Gaza Strip are experiencing severe food poverty.