The University of Dublin has withdrawn from Israeli companies under the pressure of protests

Students opposed to the war in Gaza began dismantling their protest camp at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland on Wednesday night. They decided to take the step after, according to The New York Times, the institution agreed to divest the shares of three Israeli companies that the United Nations has put on the list because of their ties to the occupied Palestinian territories.

Trinity said it would take the step as early as next month and that its endowment fund would also seek to divest from investments in other Israeli companies in the future.

“We fully understand the driving force behind the encampment on our campus and stand in solidarity with the students in our dismay at what is happening in Gaza,” the college said in a statement released Wednesday evening.

“We abhor and condemn all violence and war, including the atrocities of October 7, the hostage-taking and the continued ferocious and disproportionate attack in Gaza,” she added. The statement was approved by the college board. The protesters then began packing up the several dozen tents they had previously set up on the school’s campus. The demonstration lasted five days.

A number of universities in Western Europe and the USA are currently under strong pressure from repeated demonstrations in support of Palestine and the end of Israel’s military operations in Gaza. The British newspaper The Guardian points out that, unlike universities in the United States, where the police intervene against protesters, no one tried to break up the protest in Dublin. One of the deans there, Eoin O’Sullivan, who interviewed the students, even thanked them for their “engagement”.