Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Students from the prestigious Sophia University in Tokyo staged a protest in support of Palestine and Gaza on Thursday and also initiated a Change.org campaign demanding that the university authorities display transparency over dealings with Israel, cut ties with Israeli institutions and assist the people of Gaza.

“How many more Palestinians need to be killed, slaughtered and massacred before Sophia and every other university in Japan cut ties with Israeli institutions,” one of the speakers asked in a speech. “Inevitably, when Sophia does cut ties with Israeli universities, it will already be too late. There will be blood on your hands.”

The speaker accused the university’s authorities of being “cowards, silencing your students and not allowing us to protest on campus.” The speaker hinted that Jewish students were harassing pro-Palestine students and asked the college’s administration to “hurry up and do the right thing for us.” 

The protesters called on Japan to raise funds for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and cooperate with the international boycott on the “fascist and rogue state of Israel.”

Through Change.org, the students made demands of the university authorities that included: acknowledgment of the genocide in Palestine; transparency regarding any exchange with Israeli institutions; cutting ties with Tel Aviv University; a donation fund for UNRWA; scholarships for Palestinian students; and the expulsion of a PhD student who harassed, assaulted and spat on pro-Palestinian students.