As of September 16th 2025, the Inquiry of the Unites Nations has reported to have found Israel guilty of committing genocide in Gaza.
In this report Israel has been found guilty of four out of the five genocidal acts outlined in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. This report, however, comes far too late, with Gaza now facing widespread famine and destruction amidst Israel’s continued bombardment of the Strip.
Israel’s strikes on Gaza haven’t, as reported by both major new agencies and first-hand accounts, spared any infrastructure including that of hospitals, refugee camps, and educational facilities. Schools and universities specifically have been targeted, with over 200 facilities being struck by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). These attacks also include the bombing of UNRWA (United Nations Relief Work and Agency for Palestinians in the Near East) facilities and schools within the Jabalia and Nuseirat refugee camps.
Chair of the Commission for the United Nations Human Rights, Navi Pillay, stated in the September 16th report, “Children in Gaza have lost their childhood. With no education available, they are forced to worry about survival amid attacks, uncertainty, starvation and subhuman living conditions. What is particularly disturbing is the widespread nature of the targeting of educational facilities, which has extended well beyond Gaza, impacting all Palestinian children.”
Within the Gaza Strip there were a total of 17 universities, of which every single one has suffered strikes, with 12 universities having been destroyed entirely. This has led to the complete breakdown of Gazan institutions for higher learning and the very future of Gazan education with some even dubbing it a ' scholasticide’. At this point, even if Israel’s genocidal attacks on Gaza were to cease, there would be no institutions for which Palestinians could attend and use to rebuild their communities.
Hopes for attaining higher degrees will rest largely in attending universities abroad, most likely in other Arabic speaking countries. This ‘solution’ however, will also likely lead to even further displacement of Palestinians from their homes and from Gaza. It is not difficult to assume that Israel, which has forcefully displaced Palestinians numerous times before, would not allow for the reentry of these students if they were to attempt to return home after receiving their degrees.
Such possibilities, even if given push back by international communities, will be enough to stop many Palestinians from seeking higher education abroad. Important fields such as medicine will greatly suffer, even as their necessity within Gaza grows exponentially on the daily.
It is also important to note that such destruction of Gaza’s education system is not by accident, just as their strikes on hospitals and the blocking of aid has not been by accident either. Israel’s goals have been to destabilize and destroy not just the current livelihood of Palestinians, but the future of it as well.
Palestinian UCD students are not spared from this destabilization either, with many having faced similar displacement long before Israel’s strikes on Gaza began. Their studies and their right to an education is as fundamental as any other human being’s.
We interviewed one such Palestinian UCD student, asking them about their decision to study in Ireland, and particularly UCD. For safety concerns, this student has decided to remain anonymous, though we are very grateful for their contribution to this piece.
When asked why they chose Ireland, this student said they wanted to go to an English-speaking country, their choice being between the UK and Ireland. In the end, they chose UCD because it’s an international university.
In response to the recent UK declaration that support for Palestine, their family’s home country, is a terrorist action, they said, “Palestinian students need to be allowed to be Palestinian”. In Ireland they have always felt safe; mentioning for example the significance of seeing a Palestinian flag the day they flew in. They note that there has been a huge increase in the number of Palestinian students from Palestine and Jordan coming to Ireland due to Ireland’s support towards Palestine; a solidarity they say they haven't really seen anywhere else.
“There’s a solidarity between the Irish and Palestine when it comes to being controlled and destabilized by the English government.”
When asked if students are sufficiently informed about what’s going on in Gaza at UCD they reply, “Not at all”. They argue there's a difference between knowing the facts and actually understanding the situation; “In my part of the world we grow up around war, in your part of the world you don’t even notice it”. They add, for example, how people they’ve spoken to become increasingly shocked when they talk about their experiences back home.
In their view UCD as an institution isn’t doing nearly enough about the genocide in Palestine. They spoke about how UCD still hasn’t boycotted and still works with organizations that directly fund Israel. This includes multi-institutional research agreements such as the recent CATALOOP or Technion project. Although the university has pledged to not enter any new direct partnerships, it has not cut current ones like Trinity has.
In terms of helping students from Palestine they claim that UCD only helps them because they are international students, as Palestinians aren’t given any sort of specific help. Additionally, they talked about how difficult the process of applying was because of the amount of paperwork for their visa. “Bureaucratically we are not wanted,” they claim after explaining how their visa was rejected the first time, making them send paperwork to the UAE to look over documents again.
Despite the hope that being accepted to study abroad can bring for Palestinians, the interviewee worries about students not being able to go back to Palestine after, “Students should be allowed to leave and reenter their home”.
After the Nakba, the first mass displacement of Palestinians in 1948, they explain how their grandparents were kicked out of Palestine. Although their grandparents were able to return and were given their home back in Jerusalem, their parent wasn’t classified as living within the country and had their Palestinian ID card cut in half. They note this as very common, “If Israel sees an opportunity to force them out, they will”. They themselves, like many other displaced Palestinians, can’t enter Palestine, the country their family calls home.
UCD, like all international universities, has a duty to protect their scholars especially when studying at UCD could very well lead to the further displacement of Palestinian students. Their continuing support, even in the face of widespread criticism, of Israeli organizations such as CATALOOP and Technion go directly against this duty. The further they double down on this support, the further they align themselves with the very government which has destroyed the academic future of millions of Palestinians.