Leipzig University students vote for academic boycott of Israel in German first

Nearly 700 students at the University of Leipzig voted almost unanimously on 19 May to demand the university sever all ties with Israeli academic institutions over the war in Gaza, in what organizers described as a first for Germany.

The vote followed a student report alleging that the university's cooperation agreements with Israeli institutions aid and assist Israel in genocide and other violations of international law. The adopted list of demands calls on the university to recognize and condemn what the students term the genocidal nature of Israel's war on Gaza, including scholasticide — the systematic destruction of educational institutions, students and staff. Students demand an end to all cooperation with Israeli universities and insist the university neither participate in, promote, nor publicize collaborations or activities organized or hosted by Israeli universities.

"Leipzig University is very open about its collaboration with institutions that violate international law," a student and contributor of the report told Middle East Eye (MEE). "Cooperations must be ended on three grounds: moral because the cause against genocide is universal and just, ethical because the university must be a place of learning and knowledge production that upholds the value of life and education and rejects human rights violations and scholasticide, and finally legal because the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion that confirms the illegality of aiding and abetting violations of erga omnes [universally binding] laws including by Israeli educational institutions."

The university administration moved to block the vote. On 18 May, the university withdrew the room provided for the assembly scheduled for the following day. Professor Eva Ines Obergfell, the university's rector, said in a statement: "It became necessary to reassess our decision. This is no longer about academic debate, but about a partisan statement and the intention to restrict academic freedom." The university told MEE that the assembly "was not convened by the Student Council management in accordance with its statutes."

The Student Council rejected the accusation as unfounded. The student representative body said that under its statutes, a general assembly can be convened through a petition signed by at least 3 percent of the student population. According to the council, students collected around 1,300 signatures, exceeding the required threshold. "The collected signatures clearly show that we, as a status group of students, want and need to be part of this discourse. The convening of this general assembly as a direct means to this end must be accepted by the university administration," said Alaska Krakor, a member of the Student Council.

Representatives from Students for Palestine (SFP) Leipzig said the foundations for the success of the assembly — which took place outside the university courtyard — started at the beginning of the academic year with the launch of the complicity report. "We as students wanted to think globally and act locally," SFP said. "Our university is complicit with its direct ties and cooperation with Israeli institutions which helps develop weapons, makes bombs, and increase knowledge production on how to oppress Palestinians, and we want no part in this complicity. We call on the university to respect the will of the student body."

The German Rectors' Conference, the association of state and state-recognized universities in Germany, released a statement in June 2025 calling for the reinforcement and strengthening of academic and research collaborations with Israel. The statement said: "Israeli universities and the academic community in Israel have always been a strong, liberal and democratic force and a central element of academic and ethical reflection and balance, especially in the Middle East conflict."