Pro-Palestinian students at Ghent University in Belgium launched another anti-Israel protest this week, occupying part of the campus and demanding that the university cut all ties with Israeli institutions.
Videos shared from the scene showed demonstrators with their faces covered by keffiyehs while waving Palestinian flags inside the university building. The activists claimed that more than 100 students had taken part in what they described as a renewed “occupation" of the campus.
The protesters said they would continue their action until university officials agree to their demands.
Among the demands presented by the group were the immediate termination of all existing partnerships with Israeli institutions, a commitment not to establish future collaborations with Israeli organizations, and efforts to push for Israel’s exclusion from Horizon Europe, the European Union’s flagship research and innovation program, during the 2028-2034 budget cycle.
One student representative said the protesters believed such measures should already have been implemented without pressure from activists.
“We should not have to occupy this building," the spokesperson said, arguing that universities should not cooperate with institutions they accuse of supporting what the protesters described as “genocide."
The demonstrators also accused Israeli universities of supporting Israeli government policies and military activities. During the protest, speakers alleged that Israeli academic institutions contribute to military training, weapons development, and policies they described as discriminatory toward Palestinians. They argued that an academic boycott of Israel would have practical consequences rather than serving as a symbolic gesture, and called for what they termed a “full academic boycott" of Israeli institutions.