Birzeit University's Team Boycotts Israeli Team at the International Criminal Moot Court Competition at the Quarter Final of the Competition
The International Criminal Court Moot Court Competition is an annual large-scale competition held at the Hague-Netherlands and aims at stimulating the proceedings of the International Criminal Court (ICC). A team from the Faculty of Law and Public Administration represented Birzeit University and Palestine at the Competition, which was held at The Hague from May 14-19, 2017.
Birzeit’s team competed against 12 teams from 10 different countries, including China, Singapore, Iran, Switzerland, Georgia, Scotland, India, Kenya, Albania and Guatemala. Birzeit University's team qualified to the Quarter-Final ranking 9th on the competition in the preliminary rounds and winning the award for “Best Written Memorial for the Defense.” Upon qualification, the Palestinian team was placed against the Israeli team in the Quarter Final.
The Birzeit team refused to play against the Israeli team, openly boycotting the Hebrew University's team indicating that such move comes in line with the university’s commitment towards the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS), which advocates boycotting Israeli institutions that support or otherwise benefit from Israel’s occupation. The team asked the competition's organizers to change the competing teams to avoid competing against the Israeli team; however, such change was not granted. Given these facts our students refused to play against a team representing a state that is so deeply involved in war crimes and human rights violations.
