On 21 October 2025, ETH Zurich will host the launch event of its new School of Public Policy (SPI) at the Careum Auditorium in Zurich (details here). The event will run from 14:00 to 17:00, with Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis, Switzerland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, delivering a keynote address at 15:30.

We, Students for Palestine and the broader academic community in Zurich, cannot remain silent as Cassis—representing a government deeply complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza—uses our campuses to launder his image.

Switzerland has failed its obligations under international law. Despite binding rulings of the International Court of Justice, repeated findings of genocide and apartheid by UN experts and the International Association of Genocide Scholars, and the destruction of all twelve universities in Gaza—a scholasticide unprecedented in modern history—Switzerland has continued political, financial, and military ties with Israel. By doing so, it is not a neutral bystander but an enabler of mass atrocities.

Cassis himself has consistently defended these policies, blocking meaningful sanctions, shielding Israel from accountability, and deepening Swiss economic and academic cooperation with institutions directly embedded in Israel’s military-industrial complex. Hosting him at ETH normalizes complicity, while our colleagues in Gaza are killed, displaced, and denied the right to education.

As members of the academic community, we reject the false notion of neutrality that seeks to shield institutions from accountability. Israeli universities are not disinterested centres of learning but integral pillars of apartheid and militarism, actively developing the weapons, surveillance systems, and ideological doctrines that enable the destruction of Palestinian life and land. Swiss universities, bound by the Swiss Constitution and international law, have a legal and moral duty to ensure they are not complicit in genocide, occupation, or apartheid. Invoking academic freedom to justify partnerships that directly facilitate crimes against humanity is a profound distortion of that principle and an abdication of our responsibilities as scholars and institutions dedicated to human dignity and justice

We therefore call on ETH Zurich and all Swiss universities to:

1. Cancel Cassis’ keynote and deny platforms to officials who defend complicity in genocide.
2. End all institutional cooperation with Israeli universities and research centres in accordance with the PACBI guidelines [1].
3. Support Palestinian academia by facilitating scholarships, partnerships, and reconstruction initiatives for students and institutions in Gaza.

Silence is complicity. ETH Zurich must not be used to legitimize a government that sustains Israel’s genocidal regime. We urge all members of the academic community and the broader Swiss public to sign this petition and join the call for a principled academic boycott.

Students for Palestine Zurich,  students and staff of ETH Zurich; University of Zurich; and allied institutions of higher education

[1] Palestinian Campaign for Academic and Cultural Boycott: https://www.bdsmovement.net/pacbi/academic-boycott-guidelines