Call on NUIG to axe security firm linked to Israel
Students at NUI Galway are to call on the university authorities to axe the services provided by an international security firm following a decisive vote in favour of boycotting Israel on the campus last week.
G4S, who patrol the NUI Galway grounds at night, have been investigated by international authorities over the past two years after being linked to allegations of human rights abuses in Israel and Palestine.
After 64% of the students voted in favour of Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against the state of Israel last Thursday, the college’s Palestine Solidarity Society said it was now time to re-examine NUIG’s use of G4S throughout the campus.
Students voted by 1,954 to 1,054 in favour of the international boycott against Israel after a heated campaign in which the Israeli Embassy in Dublin claimed it would be “anti-Semitic” to do so.
The students pointed out that Palestine civil society called for the boycott in 2005, to protest against the oppression which Palestinians are subjected to daily by the state of Israel.
Last week, NUI Galway became the first college in the country to adopt BDS against Israel as official Students’ Union policy.
“This is a landmark victory in Ireland for the growing international campaign to boycott Israel until it complies with international law and ends its illegal occupation of Palestine,” said Fionnghuala Nic Roibeaird of the Palestine Solidarity Society at NUIG.
She said pressure would be brought to bear immediately on the NUI Galway authorities to review the university’s arrangements with G4S which, she claimed, is “notorious for its provision of security and incarceration 'services' to Israel's prisons.''
Read more in today’s Connacht Sentinel