SABC News: UJ terminates ties with Israel's BGU

UJ terminates ties with Israel's BGU   
SABC News- South Africa -[23_03_11] 

The University of Johannesburg (UJ) has severed ties with Israel's Ben-Gurion University after UJ's Senate found that there was significant evidence that BGU had research and other engagements supporting the military in Israel.

UJ says it is particularly concerned about ties regarding what it calls the occupation of Gaza. The local tertiary institution is the first to officially sever relations with an Israeli university. The two universities have had close ties since the 1980's.

Speculation was rife last week that UJ would terminate its relationship with the Israeli academic institution. Relations between the two soured after UJ realised that BGU reportedly failed to meet conditions imposed on it by UJ.

The conditions included the addition of a Palestinian University into the current UJ-BGU agreement as well as a requirement that the two’s relationship would not have any military implications or contributed to the abuse of human rights.

UJ's Senate imposed conditions on BGU that had to be met by the beginning of next month, failing which relations would be terminated automatically.

The UJ’s report reveals and exposes damning evidence of BGU's military links, discriminatory practices, contributions to human rights abuses and suppression of academic freedom.

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