Welcoming student protests and a critical position from part of the teaching staff, the Congregation of the Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences of the University of São Paulo (FFLCH-USP) voted to bring forward the end of the agreement signed with the Israeli University of Haifa. Of the 54 possible votes, 46 were in favor of renouncing the agreement, which was valid until May 2026. 
The unit has presented positions contrary to the agreement since the beginning of attacks by the Israeli Security Forces on Palestinian cities in Gaza and the West Banktriggered after an attack by the Hamas group on Israeli civilians. Last week, the group accepted a ceasefire proposal mediated by the United States government and released the last hostages alive.
The action of the Israeli army has been harshly criticized by the United Nations (UN) and the majority of member states, including Brazil, due to the disproportion of forces and the tens of thousands of civilians killed, in addition to the destruction of basic and fundamental structures in the Palestinian territories, in precarious conditions since the 1940s, when the Nakba took place.
Note from student representatives, who have been promoting occupations and protests since the beginning of the Israeli bombings, praise the council’s position and attribute it “to the allegations of serious human rights violations committed by the State of Israel against the Palestinian population”.
“It was a victory of ethics over omission. The Brazilian public university cannot be an accomplice to those who transform knowledge into an instrument of war. Today, FFLCH took a historic step and USP must follow the same path”, said student João Conceição, student representative of the FFLCH International Cooperation Commission.
Other Brazilian universities have already broken agreements with Israeli institutions, such as Unicamp (SP), UFF (RJ) and UFC (CE). USP has had an agreement with the University of Haifa since 2018 and the FFLCH Congregation will recommend the extension of the break to the University Council.
