University College London (UCL) has been warned by UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) that it is liable for breaches of the UK Equality Act arising out of commitments to engage in BDS in an open letter signed by hundreds of its staff (the UCL Letter).
UKLFI has written to Dr Spence, President and Provost of UCL, enclosing a Memorandum which controverts allegations against Israel in the UCL Letter. UKLFI concludes that the UCL Letter itself and conduct pursuant to it are based on false foundations, erroneous and unlawful. UKLFI states that UCL is liable for breaches of the Equality Act 2010 by its staff unless it shows that it took all reasonable steps to prevent such conduct.
Jonathan Turner, UKLFI chief executive, wrote to Dr Spence: "In the light of this analysis, it is not sufficient for the management of UCL merely to abstain from complying with the demands in the letter. You must take all reasonable steps to ensure that UCL staff do not engage in conduct contrary to the Equality Act."
UKLFI observed that there could be civil claims by adversely affected students and/or staff, regulatory action by the Office for Students and/or Equality and Human Rights Commission, or a claim for judicial review. UKLFI added, however, that it would be better if UCL remedies the situation itself, and invited Dr Spence to set out how he proposed to do this.
The UCL Letter makes a number of highly erroneous factual and legal assertions. Relying on a flawed interpretation of the First Provisional Measures Order of the International Court of Justice in South Africa's case against Israel (the "ICJ Order"), it claims wrongly that there is a "plausible case of genocide [by Israel] against Palestinians in Gaza".
It then says that universities "must take steps to ensure that they avoid institutional complicity" in this genocide and that these steps include committing to the terms of the BDS movement for Palestine on an institutional basis.
The signatories of the UCL Letter emphasise that they individually commit to the terms of the BDS movement and call on "research centre, programme, department, faculty and university leaders from across UCL to join [them] in committing to these principles".
In relation to the UCL Letter's demand for divestment, UKLFI's memorandum points out that "there is no general rule under international law which prevents universities from investing into companies that supply arms or military technology to Israel" and that the "ICJ recently refrained from ordering Germany to cease its supply of weapons to Israel, finding that there were sufficient safeguards in place to remove the need for urgent measures."
With regard to the UCL Letter's objections to UCL's institutional ties with Israeli universities, UKLFI notes that the "Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University respectively rank 86 and 201 in the 2024 Academic Ranking of World Universities. They have scientific and academic partnerships not only with UCL, but also with other prestigious universities and institutions around the world".
Contrary to claims in the UCL Letter, UKLFI points out that "[t]hese are not universities that were set up to assist the Israeli military or to help Israel avoid legal accountability for crimes". On the contrary, these institutions have been responsible for establishing and furthering peace initiatives.
UKLFI also notes that the UCL Letter's claim that the Hebrew University is built on illegally seized land in occupied East Jerusalem is completely false.
UKLFI also points out that the BDS movement, to whose terms the signatories of the UCL Letter commit individually and ask UCL to commit as an institution, "is led by terrorist organisations, promotes antisemitism and racism, and adheres to anti-peace initiatives."
UCL Letter HERE
UKLFI Letter HERE
UKLFI Memorandum HERE
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