Tel Aviv Tribune Net correspondents
Oman – Tel Aviv Tribune Net learned from student sources that hundreds of Jordanian university students withdrew from this year’s international “Hult Prize” competition after learning of the participation of Israeli universities in the competition.
In response, the University of Jordan, the University of Science and Technology, and the Hashemite University announced the withdrawal of its students and its organizational body from the competition, in rejection of normalization with the Israeli occupation, and in protest against its ongoing aggression against the Gaza Strip for months.
The Hult Prize is a youth platform and a global competition held in cooperation with the United Nations. It begins its course annually from universities to students, where a problem or challenge is presented every year. The framework of the competition is to solve this problem by creating an idea for a startup company to win a prize worth one million US dollars in The final stage of the competition.
Students against normalization
A student at the University of Jordan, Ammar Al-Ghanem, confirmed to Tel Aviv Tribune Net the withdrawal of 30 student teams that had been previously nominated to participate in the international competition “HALT.” He added that this decision was taken unanimously by more than 100 students at the University of Jordan alone. He said, “We Jordanian students do not recognize the existence of entity, and therefore we refuse to participate in any competition, whether scientific or athletic, in the presence of Zionist students from Zionist universities.”
Al-Ghanem pointed out that the administration of the student teams in Jordanian universities addressed the award administration not to allow Israeli students to participate in the competition, before all the student teams decided not to participate and completely withdraw from the competition, indicating that the decision comes within the framework of supporting the Palestinian people who are being subjected to aggression in the Gaza Strip. And the West Bank.
In a statement issued by the organizing team of the competition at the Jordan University of Science and Technology, a copy of which was received by Tel Aviv Tribune Net, the students announced their withdrawal from the competition, and said, “This decision comes as a true expression of our rejection of the decisions of the Hult International Organization, which include accepting the participation of two Zionist universities in this competition.” .
They also stressed their rejection of any cooperation or participation with the occupying state, whether at the local, regional or international level, and the statement stressed “the commitment of Jordanian students to defend the Palestinian cause, and to work every effort to promote humanitarian principles and justice throughout the world.”
Principled position
Student Azzam Shukani, one of the officials in the “Halt” competition in Jordan, confirmed his complete rejection of the participation of representatives of Israeli universities in this edition, which is happening for the first time in the history of the competition.
He added to Tel Aviv Tribune Net, “We in Jordan, whether we are representatives of the HALT competition, or even university students, our positions towards Palestine are indivisible, and therefore we reject normalization with the occupation, and this matter is not only a result of the aggression against the Gaza Strip, but rather it is a principled position for us before the war.” On and after Gaza.
As for the student Abdul Rahman Alawneh from the University of Science and Technology, he confirmed that the university students decided to withdraw as an expression of a principled position of rejecting normalization with the Israeli occupation. He said in his interview with Tel Aviv Tribune Net that “the position of the student frameworks in Jordanian universities is firm and united in boycotting the occupation, as we categorically reject cooperation or response.” Among the calls demanding normalization with the occupation, and therefore this decision to withdraw from the international competition is not a surprising decision for our students, and students have previously withdrawn individually or collectively from sports competitions in rejection of normalization with the Israeli occupation at all levels.”
Calls also spread on social media sites applauding the withdrawal of Jordanian university students from the international competition, amid popular calls not to participate in the future in any competitions or conferences in which representatives of the Israeli occupation participate.
Conscious youth, proving as always that the student soul is free..
For the sake of Gaza and for the blood of the martyrs, the organizing team of the Hult Prize competition at the Jordan University of Science and Technology and a number of teams in Jordanian universities withdraw from the competition.#boycott_hultprize pic.twitter.com/vpsKI08zMN
– Al-Quds Committee – JUST (@alqudsjust) January 20, 2024
Not the first time
The student move comes at a time when Jordanian universities witnessed demonstrations and protests, in response to the Student Forum’s call to support the resistance and to denounce the ongoing Israeli aggression against Gaza since the seventh of last October.
The architecture student at the University of Jordan, Lina Al-Hourani, had previously refused to participate in the global “Bloomberg” project because Israel was chosen alongside Jordan to represent the Middle East for the best urban design for cities.
Al-Hourani confirmed that she refused to continue submitting the proposal, denouncing the participation of the Israeli occupation as a representative of the Middle East, noting that “this is part of the occupation’s approach to normalization and existence.”