French university to be defunded over pro-Palestine demonstrations

LONDON

The Regional Council of Ile-de-France said Monday that it will suspend funding for Sciences Po University in Paris over demonstrations by its students in solidarity with Palestinians amid Israel’s war on Gaza.

The council’s president, Valerie Pecresse, said she has decided to suspend the funding "until tranquility and security are restored at the university."

Accusing pro-Palestinian students of being "radicalized" and labeling their protests "anti-Semitic hatred," Pecresse wrote on X that the La France Insoumise (LFI) party and its "Islamo-leftist allies" cannot dictate their laws to the entire educational community.

She said that Ile-de-France defends the right to free, informed and respectful debates within the French university.

Sciences Po has become yet another prestigious Paris university where pro-Palestinian demonstrations are taking place to call for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza.

Israel has waged a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year which killed some 1,200 people.

Nearly 34,500 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 77,600 others injured amid mass destruction and severe shortages of necessities.

More than six months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.