For many in Ireland the refrain of being the most pro-Palestine supporting country in Europe is a badge of honour (although perhaps the Spanish would have something to say about that). However, those of us who have been at this work for a long time know that rhetoric and reality rarely match up. As an educator and someone who has been involved in strengthening partnerships between the Palestinian and Irish academy for over a decade, the news that another group of Palestinian students seeking to take up their positions at Irish universities have had their visa applications rejected is particularly galling.

Education, as Nelson Mandela once opined, is “the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.” In 2015, and again in 2020, I worked at the Al Quds University in occupied Palestine teaching students from across the West Bank and saw first hand the determination and resolve to complete degree programmes against the backdrop of incessant Israeli army incursions and daily struggles to get to class.

Whilst attacks on the Palestinian education sector is not a new phenomenon (during the First Intifada, many Universities across Palestine were shuttered and educators forced into exile) the outbreak of the Genocide in Gaza has seen attacks on a totally different scale.

Dubbed ‘scholasticide’, every university in Gaza has been destroyed, with schools deliberately targeted, and our colleagues – teachers, professors, admin staff – and of course countless numbers of students, killed.

Dubbed ‘scholasticide’, every university in Gaza has been destroyed, with schools deliberately targeted, and our colleagues – teachers, professors,........

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