DUBLIN: Ireland’s prestigious Trinity College Dublin said on Wednesday that it would cut all links with Israel in protest at “ongoing violations of international and humanitarian law.”
The university’s board informed students by email that it had accepted the recommendations of a taskforce to sever “institutional links with the State of Israel, Israeli universities and companies headquartered in Israel.”
The recommendations would be “enacted for the duration of the ongoing violations of international and humanitarian law,” said the email sent by the board’s chairman Paul Farrell, and seen by AFP.
The taskforce was set up after part of the university’s campus in central Dublin was blockaded by students for five days last year in protest at Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Among the taskforce’s recommendations approved by the board were pledges to divest “from all companies headquartered in Israel” and to “enter into no future supply contracts with Israeli firms” and “no new commercial relationships with Israeli entities.”
The university also said that it would “enter into no further mobility agreements with Israeli universities.”
Trinity has two current Erasmus+ exchange agreements with Israeli universities: Bar Ilan University, an agreement that ends in July 2026, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which ends in July 2025, the university told AFP in an email.
The board also said that the university “should not submit for approval or agree to participate in any new institutional research agreements involving Israeli participation.”
It “should seek to align itself with like-minded universities and bodies in an effort to influence EU policy concerning Israel’s participation in such collaborations,” it added.
Ireland has been among the most outspoken critics of Israel’s response to the October 7, 2023 attacks on southern Israel by Hamas militants that sparked the war in Gaza.
Polls since the start of the war have shown overwhelming pro-Palestinian sympathy in Ireland.
In May 2024, Dublin joined several other European countries in recognizing Palestine as a “sovereign and independent state.”
It then joined South Africa in bringing a case before the International Court of Justice in The Hague accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza — charges angrily denied by Israeli leaders.
In December, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar ordered the closure of the country’s embassy in Dublin, blaming Ireland’s “extreme anti-Israel policies.”
The University of Geneva also announced Wednesday that it has ended its partnership with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem following student protests, saying it no longer reflected the institution’s “strategic priorities.”

UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council will vote Wednesday on a resolution demanding an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, and the Trump administration is expected to veto it because it does not link the ceasefire to the release of all the hostages held by Hamas.

The resolution before the UN’s most powerful body also does not condemn Hamas’ deadly attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which ignited the war, or say the militant group must disarm and withdraw from Gaza — two other US demands.

The US vetoed the last resolution on Gaza in November, under the Biden administration, because the ceasefire demand was not directly linked to the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. Similarly, the current resolution demands those taken by Hamas and other groups be released, but it does not make it a condition for a truce.

Calling the humanitarian situation in Gaza “catastrophic,” the resolution, put forth by the 15-member council’s 10 elected members, also calls for “the immediate and unconditional lifting of all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza and its safe and unhindered distribution at scale, including by the UN and humanitarian partners.”

President Donald Trump’s administration has tried to ramp up its efforts to broker peace in Gaza after 20 months of war. However, Hamas has sought amendments to a US proposal that special envoy Steve Witkoff has called “totally unacceptable.”

The vote follows a decision by an Israeli and US-backed foundation to pause food delivery at its three distribution sites in the Gaza Strip after health officials said dozens of Palestinians were killed in a series of shootings near the sites this week. Israel and the United States say they supported the establishment of the new aid system to prevent Hamas from stealing aid previously distributed by the UN

The United Nations has rejected the new system, saying it doesn’t address Gaza’s mounting hunger crisis, allows Israel to use aid as a weapon and doesn’t comply with the humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence. The UN says its distribution system throughout Gaza worked very well during the March ceasefire and is carefully monitored.

The resolution demands the restoration of all essential humanitarian services in line with humanitarian principles, international humanitarian law and UN Security Council resolutions.

Several UN diplomats from different countries, speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions have been private, said they expect the United States to veto the resolution. They also said they expect a similar vote to the one in November, when the 14 other council members supported the resolution.

Israel’s UN Mission said Ambassador Danny Danon, who will speak after the vote, will say the resolution undermines humanitarian relief efforts and ignores Hamas, which is still endangering civilians in Gaza. He also will say the resolution disregards the ceasefire negotiations that are already underway, the mission said.

Gaza’s roughly 2 million people are almost completely reliant on international aid because Israel’s offensive has destroyed nearly all food production capabilities. Israel imposed a blockade on supplies into Gaza on March 2, and limited aid began to enter again late last month after pressure from allies and warnings of famine.

“The world is watching, day after day, horrifying scenes of Palestinians being shot, wounded or killed in Gaza while simply trying to eat,” UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said in a statement Wednesday. He called for a flood of aid to be let in and for the world body to be the one delivering it.

The Security Council has voted on 14 Gaza-related resolutions and approved four since the war began. That is when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251.

They are still holding 58 hostages, a third of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants.

The ministry is led by medical professionals but reports to the Hamas-run government. Its toll is seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts, though Israel has challenged its numbers.