What happened?

On May 28th, 2024, Prof. Hans-Joachim Voth from the University of Zürich, racially targeted a Christian-Palestinian student of his, calling him an 'Islamofascist'. The encounter began after the student entered the classroom with his keffiyeh draped over his shoulders, which Prof. Voth claims was a 'provocation'.

During the lecture, in an attempt to unsettle the student, Prof. Voth used the Israeli economy as a model example for a point made whilst simultaneously using 'Hamas' and 'Gaza' as examples to prove the opposite. As the lecture was wrapping up, the student challenged Prof. Voth's previous appraisal of Israeli institutions, referencing a friend from Gaza who had lost over 20 members of her family. The student also referred to another friend who had been arbitrarily thrown into an Israeli prison, having never been charged with any crime.

In response, Prof. Voth argued that Israel is "the only democracy in the Middle East" before praising the brutality of war as a tool of deterrence to future conflict. He continued provoking the student by asking if he had "handed out sweets and celebrated October 7th". Once it became clear that Prof. Voth was more interested in patronising and provoking the student for his identity, he refused to engage further, and began to leave the classroom. As he left, Prof. Voth attempted to ridicule the student in front of the entire class by calling him an 'Islamofascist'.

We, the signatories of this petition extend our solidarity to the targeted student and call for the immediate suspension of Prof. Voth by the University of Zurich.

The targeted abuse of a student through racially incendiary language is entirely incompatible with the University of Zurich‘s commitment to being a safe and inclusive space for individuals of all backgrounds to pursue their education.

Discrimination of any kind has no place on university campus!

 We expect the university to uphold its values by taking decisive action against such behavior!