Dear Rector, esteemed leaders of the faculties and institutes of Palacký University in Olomouc,¹

We address you as a group of students and employees of our university with an urgent request that you use all means available to you in connection with your position within the university, the domestic and international academic community, and Czech society to take steps that will contribute to condemning and stopping the genocide committed by Israel against the Palestinian population in Gaza, to ending the war, and to restoring the destroyed Palestinian education system.

Alongside respect for human life and culture without distinction, the following reasons lead us to this appeal:

• Extremely disturbing and horrifying reports from Gaza concerning the conduct of the Israeli army, but also the silencing of pro-Palestinian and critical voices both domestically and internationally, their being accused of antisemitism, and the indifference of leading figures of the Czech academic community to this aspect of the conflict.
• The Independent International UN Commission of Inquiry on the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, in its report of 16 September 2025, found Israel responsible for acts of genocide and genocidal intent against the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip.² According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, the number of Palestinian victims between 7 October 2023 and 28 September 2025 reached 66,055 dead and 168,346 wounded.³
• The International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), in its resolution of 31 August 2025, declared that Israel’s policies and actions in Gaza correspond to the legal definition of genocide under Article 2 of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,⁴ a convention binding on the Czech Republic as well.
• Senior representatives of the Israeli government and military have repeatedly publicly declared their intention to destroy, starve, or expel the Palestinian population from Gaza.⁵
• Leading international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, B’Tselem, Physicians for Human Rights, and Human Rights Watch, on the basis of extensive investigations, have reported findings pointing to Israel’s commission of genocide.
• Prestigious institutions such as Trinity College Dublin, the University of Amsterdam, the University of Lausanne, TU Delft, the University of Helsinki, and other universities, in view of the seriousness of the accusations and the horrors of the military campaign, are suspending their relations with Israeli academic institutions, as they do not wish this cooperation to be perceived as support for or legitimisation of the actions of the Israeli government.⁶
• Many of our colleagues — also from the Israeli academic institutions, such as over 1,400 scholars and employees of Israeli universities united as the Black Flag Action Group⁷ — are, on the basis of irrefutable evidence, protesting against the targeted killings, forced transfers, and attempts to starve the population of Gaza, and are calling for the immediate cessation of the systematic destruction of the Palestinian education system.

Therefore, we call on you to use all your means, authority, and prestige to advocate for an immediate ceasefire, to publicly condemn Israeli actions in the occupied Palestinian territories, to push for accountability for all crimes connected to the war in Gaza, to reject cooperation between our university and all its components with Israeli institutions that have not publicly distanced themselves from the statements and actions of the Israeli army and government leading to the deliberate destruction of Gaza and its civilian population, to disclose a summary of contractual relations and financial transactions in the field of education, research, and administration connected with these institutions, and to create conditions for the restoration of Palestinian education and schooling in Gaza and for the legitimacy of Palestinian statehood.

Martin Bernátek

Eliška Kubartová

Tomáš Pospíšil

Vendula Holčáková

Magdalena Mänzelová

Tereza Kalousková

Lukáš Kubina

Tadeáš Venkrbec

Jitka Pavlišová

Šimon Beerkens

František Ženčák

Tereza Frnková

Martina Pálušová

René Andrejs

Ema Kaštánková

Jáchym Žalud

Amálie Ondráčková

Eliška Drahotová

Anna Bížová

Barbora Lukešová

Tereza Tichá

Julie Machýčková

Veronika Koňařík Miklíková

Ori Bosý

Theo podpis nečitelný

Daniela Janichová

Martin Kovář

Hana Schořová

Tereza Novotná

Nicola Esposito

Valentina Rovere

Alessandro Marini

Hana Killmaierová

Marie Minaříková

Martin Bernátek

Magdalena Vecková

Martin Fereš

Adéla Smýkalová

Sára Spáčilová

Maya Vavrochová

Robert Fučík

Felix Harnot

Isi Poláků

Hugo Kuhl

Pavla Najtová

Alžběta Mikesková

Denisa Bačová

Magdaléna Eliášová

Karolína Hamanová

Petra Charvátová

Jared Kenning

Magdaléna Jedličková

Eliška Slámová

Johana Rokytová

Eliška Ferfecká

Annabelle Houngbedji

Veronika Vítková

Samuel Sobek

Alena Žemličková

Václav Lipina

Jana Kališová

Petra Soldánová

Jan Kratochvíla

Eva Dohnalová

Věra Pospíšilová 

Lenka Lepetáková

Barbora Jurková

Iryna Cholodová

Fatemeh Alaei

Jana Křečková

Veronika Lipmanová

1. Verified as of 30 Sept 2025; URLs shortened.

2.  Legal analysis of the conduct of Israel in Gaza pursuant to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Online. The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, 2025. Conference Paper, Human Rights Council, Sixtieth session. Available at: https://1url.cz/jJDKT.

3.  Palestinian Casualties. Health Cluster ‒ Unified Health Dashboard. Online. World Health Organisation: occupied Palestinian territory, 2025. Available at: https://1url.cz/7JDKV.

4.  IAGS Resolution on the Situation in Gaza. Online. International Association of Genocide Scholars, 2025. Available at: https://1url.cz/WJDKd. See also Reactions to IAGS resolution on Gaza. Online. International Association of Genocide Scholars, 2025. Available at: https://1url.cz/gJDKD./

5.  Fabian, Emanuel. Defence minister announces ‘complete siege of Gaza’: No power, food or fuel. Online. Times of Israel, 9. 10. 2023. Available at: https://1url.cz/RJDKO; Legal analysis of the conduct of Israel in Gaza pursuant to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Online. Human Rights Council, 16 Sept. 2025, pp. 51‒56. Available at: https://1url.cz/jJDKT.

6.  Farrel, Paul. Update from Board on Taskforce report. Online. Trinity College Dublin, 05 June 2025. Available at: https://1url.cz/DJDrR; Urgent appeal to the leaders of the European Union and the Member States to immediately suspend the Association Agreement between Israel and the European Union. Online. Vlaamse Interuniversitaire Raad, 2025. Available at: https://1url.cz/xJDrB; University of Helsinki joins appeal to exclude Israeli academic institutions from EU research funding programme. Online. University of Helsinki, 23 Sept. 2025; Available at: https://1url.cz/PJDra.

7.  Reichman, Hank. An Urgent Call to the Heads of Academia in Israel. Online. Academe blog, June 9 2025. Available at: https://1url.cz/xJDrW.