Melbourne Students Coalition for Palestine in Australia at the annual breakfast before their withdrawal (social networking sites)

The Melbourne Student Coalition for Palestine in Australia withdrew from the group breakfast organized by the University of Melbourne for Muslim students, academics and Muslim associations on the fifth day of the holy month of Ramadan, in protest against the university’s silence regarding the genocide committed by Israel in Gaza.

The coalition president said in a speech before the withdrawal, “We call on the University of Melbourne once again to send an open letter from staff, students and graduates of this institution to demand transparency regarding their relationships with weapons manufacturers directly involved in the ongoing genocide of Palestinians.”

The head of the coalition expressed his dissatisfaction with the continued silence of the university administration, as it is one of the actors in the global academic community, regarding the killing of thousands of children from various educational levels, and the demolition of schools and universities by Israeli bombing.

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He concluded his speech by saying, "Because we have nothing to do with the ethnic cleansing to which 2.3 million Palestinians are being subjected in Gaza, we cannot and will not sit here in good conscience and break our fast, because doing so would be willful ignorance."

The members of the coalition and those in solidarity with them withdrew at the end of the speech, explaining their withdrawal as a denunciation of complicity in the genocide committed by the Israeli occupation in Gaza.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, leaving tens of thousands of civilian victims, most of them children and women, in addition to an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe and massive destruction of infrastructure, which led to Tel Aviv being brought before the International Court of Justice on charges of “genocide.” Collective" for the first time since its founding.

Source: Al Jazeera