Protest at IISc over holding India-Israel Business Summit amid violence in Middle East

“We are witnessing a genocide in Palestine, with women and children being killed, and yet our institutions are partnering with Israel for business. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has directed states not to engage with Israel on these grounds, and it’s deeply troubling that IISc continues to facilitate such events,” Clifton Rozario, General Secretary, All India Lawyers for Justice, said in a press briefing at the protest at IISc.

“We must ask ourselves, are these institutions about creating knowledge for peace and equitable well-being, or are they promoting war and violence? Hosting such summits aligns them with the genocide taking place in Palestine,” Prajval Shastri, an astrophysicist, said.

Earlier, nearly 1,300 activists and academics had signed a petition criticising the involvement of the IISc, Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore, International Institute of Information Technology-Bangalore, National Institute of Advanced Studies, and the Karnataka Government in the summit.

The India-Israel Business Summit at the IISc was organised by the Indian Chamber of International Business, Think India, and the Mysore Lancers Heritage Foundation.

The Mysore Lancers Heritage Foundation comprises the relatives of soldiers from the Mysore region who fought alongside the British to liberate the port city of Haifa in Israel from the Ottoman Empire during the First World War.