The University of Sydney is not offering OLE2155: Experience Israel this year amidst the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
This OLE, which ran as a block-mode June intensive unit last year alongside Germany, Italy and the Spanish-Speaking World, is currently listed as having “no availabilities for this year.”
When asked for comment, a spokesperson from the University informed Honi Soit that “the safety of our community is our first priority. The University’s current travel advice is ‘do not travel’ to Israel so this unit isn’t available.”
They went on to note that “our travel advice follows risk assessments sourced from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, with International SOS information then used to identify location-specific hazards and safety measures to be applied.”
The purpose of the unit, as stipulated by the University’s School of Languages, was to “introduce students to the Hebrew language and culture” at a “partner university in Israel.” In addition to “practical language lessons”, students would supposedly “participate in cultural activities and have the opportunity to interact with local communities including Arab and other minority groups.”
The aforementioned “partner university” was the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, known for opening in 1925 as the first Israeli university in the city. Having a Jewish University in Jerusalem was an early preliminary goal of the Zionist movement, proposed by Hermann Schapira at the First Zionist Congress of 1897. The Hebrew University’s first and main campus, Mount Scopus, has always been at the centre of controversy, given its location in East Jerusalem and on the internationally-recognised Palestinian side of the 1949 Green Line ‘Armistice’ border. The University prides itself on its primary goal of serving the State of Israel and acting as a “symbol of the cultural rebirth of the Jewish nation in its ancestral homeland” — all while standing on stolen land.
The University’s decision to halt OLE2155 comes just days after news of the Israeli Defence Force’s (IDF) murder of over 100 Palestinian civilians waiting for food aid in Gaza City. Simultaneously, four more children died from starvation at the Kamal Adwan Hospital, and three Palestinian brothers were shot dead by the IDF near Hebron while collecting the native plant akoub.
The latest figures from the United Nations’ aid chief Martin Griffiths indicate that the death toll in Gaza has surpassed 30,000 people since October 7, 2023, when Hamas led an offensive across Israel’s southern border. The total human cost of the Nakba, which has been ongoing since 1948, remains unknown.
These atrocities are notably absent from the University’s reasons for stopping this OLE in 2024.
Honi Soit will continue to report on any changes to other in-country OLEs, as well as the University’s position on OLE2155.
