31 March 2025
For public release
Iranian Studies Scholars Against Scholasticide
[NOTE: The following statement has been endorsed by over ninety Iranian studies scholars from
across North America, Europe, and Asia. In light of the present climate of attacks on academic
freedom in the United States and elsewhere, the names and academic affiliations of the
signatories are being protected.]
We, a group of scholars in the field of Iranian Studies, condemn Israel’s scholasticide in the
Occupied Gaza and West Bank, as well as the systematic attacks, by US and European
governments and academic institutions, on faculty and students who take a stand in opposition to
this crime against humanity.
The term scholasticide refers to the systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of the educational
life of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. Since October 7, 2023, Israel has destroyed
all universities in Occupied Gaza, killing 161 professors and more than 903 students, and
injuring 1,297 professors and 1,805 students. Israel decimated all of Gaza’s archives and
libraries, and most of its historical sites. In the Occupied West Bank, and in the same period,
Israeli forces killed 36 university students and injured more than 141. Israeli scholasticide in the
Occupied Gaza and West bank is strongly backed by US and European financial, military and
diplomatic support.
We also wholeheartedly endorse our Palestinian colleagues’ sentiments, expressed in their 29
May 2024 Open Letter to the World, which states: “We call upon our colleagues in the homeland
and internationally to support our steadfast attempts to defend and preserve our universities for
the sake of the future of our people, and our ability to remain on our Palestinian land in Gaza.
We built these universities from tents. And from tents, with the support of our friends, we will
rebuild them once again.”