Brussels—Republic of Palestine
Academic Marwa Naji, from Ghent University in Belgium and a board member of the Handala Association, officially announced her withdrawal from participating in the 5th ISA Forum of Sociology, hosted by Mohammed V University in the Moroccan capital, Rabat, in protest against the participation of delegations from Israeli universities in the forum’s events.
In a special statement to the Republic of Palestine, Naji said that her decision came despite the acceptance of her research paper, explaining that “participating in a conference that opens its platform to academics representing a colonial entity involved in genocide is a moral and scientific betrayal.” She stressed that “whitewashing the crimes of the occupation through academia is a rejected attempt to Zionize knowledge and turn the academic space into a platform of normalization with child killers.”
She clarified that her decision was made in coordination with a group of European researchers who also expressed their refusal to participate in a conference “that seeks to present Israel as a natural part of the region and undermines the Palestinian people’s struggle for justice and liberation.”
Similarly, Dr. Issam Al-Rajwani, Professor of Sociology at Ibn Tofail University in Kenitra, also announced his full withdrawal from the forum, calling on his Moroccan and international colleagues to boycott the event in rejection of academic normalization. In a statement viewed by the Republic of Palestine, Al-Rajwani said, “The sociology we believe in can only side with the rights of the Palestinian people against genocide,” considering participation in the forum alongside representatives of Israeli universities to be “a badge of shame.”
In addition, 232 social science researchers from Morocco and around the world announced their boycott of the ISA Forum, rejecting the participation of Zionist institutions and attempts to legitimize colonial narratives within an academic space that is supposed to stand for justice, not the occupation and its institutions complicit in war crimes.
These stances came in response to the participation of over 30 Israeli academics representing universities classified as institutions complicit in supporting the Israeli occupation, including the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University, and Ben-Gurion University.
In a significant development, Mohammed V University announced in an official statement today that it was withdrawing from any partnership with Israeli institutions, confirming that “there will be no Israeli participation in the conference’s activities.” This came after the escalation of a boycott campaign launched by Moroccan and European academics and researchers and the growing wave of international withdrawals and protests.
The Moroccan Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (BDS Morocco) had issued an open call on June 26 urging a complete boycott of the forum, considering the participation of Israeli academics a violation of the principles of academic boycott and a contribution to whitewashing the occupation and normalizing relations with a settler-colonial system. The campaign stated that the International Sociological Association (ISA) ignored calls for boycott and opened the platform to representatives of Israeli institutions complicit in war crimes against Palestinians, including settlers from occupation universities. The campaign called this a “clear breach of justice standards” and an attempt to impose a narrative that equates the oppressor with the oppressed.
The campaign stressed that Israel’s participation in the forum represents a “serious infiltration” of the academic space and called for the adoption of clear policies to sever ties with Israeli universities, especially in light of the ongoing genocide in Gaza for over 600 days, which makes it unacceptable to provide a platform to voices of the occupation in an international academic forum.
For its part, the Handala Association in Belgium praised the move, commending academic Marwa Naji and all researchers who boycotted the forum, considering it “an example of genuine commitment to human values and justice.”
In a statement, the association said, “Academic and cultural boycott is the most effective and impactful way to combat institutions and universities that collude with the Israeli occupation and help cover up its crimes.”
The ISA Forum of Sociology is considered one of the most prominent international academic events in the field of social sciences. It was expected to host thousands of researchers from nearly 100 countries under the theme “Knowing Justice in the Age of the Anthropocene” before the participation of the Israeli delegation sparked widespread anger and condemnation, leading to mass withdrawals and the host university’s announcement to cancel that participation.
