To our fellow university colleagues worldwide,
We, a group of Iranian university professors and academics, wish to express our horror and outrage at the appalling crimes and acts of genocide committed by the State of Israel in the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and Southern Lebanon over the past year, from October 2023 to October 2024. While we unequivocally condemn any acts of terrorism and the slaughter of innocent people, regardless of their race or origin, our conscience cannot tolerate the brutal actions of the State of Israel and its military in the occupied territories of Palestine, including Gaza and the West Bank. These actions cannot be classified as warfare but rather as full-fledged massacres.
Israel is in clear violation of international law and in breach of several U.N. Security Council resolutions, including 191, 242, 338 and several others. For nearly 76 years, since 1948, it has occupied Palestinian territories, established illegal settlements, altered the demographic composition of the original population, violated basic human rights, expropriated indigenous people from their homes and land, and caused countless deaths. These actions are the primary causes of uprisings and the armed resistance of those subjected to this occupation.
To our colleagues in the West, we ask: if you consider the French partisans during the Nazi occupation, the resistance movements in Greece, in Belgium, in the Netherlands, and the armed resistance in Yugoslavia during World War II as legitimate, then you must also recognize the Palestinian resistance movement as righteous as well.
Over the past year, the Israeli military has killed approximately 42,000 people and wounded more than 98,000, with over 10,000 reported missing in Gaza, most of whom are women and children. In the West Bank, around 800 have been killed and 4,000 wounded. In Southern Lebanon, approximately 2,500 have been killed and about 10,000 wounded by Israeli bombardments this September and October. These actions should be recorded in the annals of crimes against humanity in the 21st century.
The State of Israel has effectively transformed the Gaza Strip into an extermination camp. The Israeli army has destroyed the homes of 2 million people in Gaza, displaced a million in Southern Lebanon, and devastated urban infrastructure in several West Bank cities through bombing and by heavy machinery. These horrific actions are blatant violations of international law and clear indicators of genocide in the occupied territories.
We invite all peace-loving individuals and those with a clear human conscience, regardless of origin or nationality, to condemn these criminal actions by Israel. We call for an immediate ceasefire on all fronts and an end to the human slaughter by the Israeli military (IDF) everywhere.
Furthermore, we demand the withdrawal of the Israeli army from all occupied territories and call for the prosecution of all war criminals involved in the mass killings and assassinations in the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and Lebanon, akin to the trials of Nazi war criminals in 1945 and Serbian war criminals in the 1990s.
At Sharif University of Technology
