Students at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) have marked two years of genocide in Gaza by again highlighting the ongoing presence of warmonger and Jeffrey Epstein associate Hillary Clinton as university chancellor. They also drew attention to the institution’s ongoing funding of arms companies producing the weaponry used by so-called Israel in its genocide in Gaza.
A group from QUB Palestine Assembly took over the campus’ main Lanyon building, unfurling a banner reading ‘Clinton out now.’ They also gave out leaflets detailing the university’s ongoing funding of the likes of BAE Systems and Caterpillar. They were supported by other pro-Palestine groups such as the Connolly Youth Society and BDS Belfast. Text from the leaflet read:
Queens has deep links to Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, investing heavily in Israeli companies and arms companies that supply Israel with weapons vital to carrying out their genocide. Despite QUB’s recent claims of divesting from Israeli companies, an FOI request from the QUB Palestine Assembly has revealed this is entirely untrue, and the university continues to hold £34 million worth of investments in complicit companies through BlackRock, an investment company run by an avowed Zionist.
Israeli companies such as Elbit Systems, which is one of the largest supplier of weapons to the Israeli occupation forces, are included in their investment portfolio.
QUB’s misleading claims on divestment
The reference to “QUB’s recent claims” likely refers to a widely covered claim from June this year in which the higher education institute said:
We can confirm the University has no direct investment in any Israeli companies.
However, this indirect funding of the Zionist genocide machine going to the likes of Elbit Systems via BlackRock means the university remains complicit in genocide. Aside from the BlackRock link, the leaflet goes on to highlight the ongoing partnerships QUB holds with other criminal companies. It cites BAE Systems, which:
Manufactures components for Israel’s F-35’s and artillery which Israel has used to launch white phosphorous. Queen’s boasts of “Partnering with BAE Systems on video based semantic analysis of crowd behaviour” and provides placements for students.
Caterpillar are also mentioned, due to the fact the company:
Supplies the Israeli military with a large variety of heavy machinery, including bulldozers used to destroy Palestinian homes. Queen’s again works with this company to provide student placements.
Along with the banner calling for Clinton’s removal, protestors held up signs highlighting her links to Epstein, and Netanyahu’s criminal regime. The former US presidential candidate and her husband Bill were recently issued legal summonses to testify before a congressional committee. They are being asked to give evidence regarding the extent of their relationship with Epstein, who visited the White House during Bill Clinton’s time as president. The letter to Hillary says:
Your family appears to have had a close relationship with both Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.
Perpetual warmonger Clinton disgraces university as chancellor
The QUB chancellor has been an enthusiastic backer of US overseas violence all the way through her political career, including both brutal assaults on Iraq, the pointless adventurism in Afghanistan, and the destruction of Libya. She has latterly turned her keenness for mass murder in West Asia to the Zionist entity’s holocaust in Gaza. She has lied about there being a “ceasefire on October 6” (Israel had killed 234 Palestinians in the West Bank prior to October 7 2023); lied about the Zionist fake state having a right to defend itself (under international law it does not); and has opposed a ceasefire amidst the mass murder of innocent civilians.
Her presence on campus has triggered violence of its own, with thugs from the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s (PSNI) Tactical Support Group (TSG) brutally arresting peacefully protesting students when Clinton visited in 2024 for a conference. At the time, the university compounded its disgrace by backing the police and criticising those who attended the demonstration.
Those present that day were evidently not deterred, as many of the same activists took part in Tuesday’s occupation. They urged passing students to get involved with the Palestine Assembly and take action to end Clinton’s association with a university that issues its supposed values through the acronym ICARE. As it continues to have a violent and cruel woman as its chancellor, and while it continues to finance Israeli genocide, Queen’s University clearly cares very little about the lives of Palestinians.
Featured image via the Canary
