The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) has officially ended its Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Israeli Institute of Technology, known as Technion, following nearly a year of sustained pressure, campaigning, and coordinated action by students and staff. This is an incredible win for The UTS Student Association (UTSSA), the UTS Palestine Society (Palsoc), Solidarity, and UTS Staff for Palestine, who all backed the campaign. And for the NTEU branch, who, in October 2024 voted for an academic boycott of Israel and to end Australian university cooperation with Israeli counterparts including Technion.
Technion has played a central role in Israel’s military and weapons development since 1948. It is deeply embedded within the Israeli arms industry, contributing to the ongoing genocide in Gaza by assisting weapons manufacturers such as Elbit and Rafael in developing military technologies. Among these is the remote-controlled D9 bulldozer, especially cruel in its use to demolish Palestinian homes in the occupied territories.
Since 2010, UTS had quietly maintained an MOU with Technion, facilitated by the Faculty of Science. The agreement supported student exchange programs, joint research, and the use of UTS facilities. It was due for renewal in June 2025.
In September 2024, UTS Staff for Palestine obtained internal university documents through a Freedom of Information request, revealing the existence of the partnership. This disclosure occurred around the same time that Palestine solidarity encampments began appearing on campuses across Australia.
Inspired by those actions, we began organising at UTS with one clear demand: to end all ties with Technion.
Technion was a key focus of the student and staff National Day of Action held on 23 October 2024. Around 100 students and staff from the University of Sydney marched to join 60 others at UTS.
The protest entered the UTS Engineering building and occupied it for approximately 30 minutes, demanding the university cut all ties with Technion. The building includes the office of Professor Michael Blumenstein, a Technion Australia board member and UTS Pro Vice-Chancellor for Business Creation and Major Facilities.
In December, UTS staff and students helped organise a protest at the Technion 100th Anniversary Dinner in Sydney.
A second National Day of Action took place on 26 March this year, with 70 staff and students gathering at UTS to protest.
But the campaign for Palestine at UTS has faced continual repression. In October 2024, when a health science researcher at UTS tried to organise a seminar on “The Health Crisis in Gaza” the event was banned and the room booking cancelled due to a “risk assessment” with the staff member threatened with misconduct if he went ahead. Students responded by taking over the room to watch a Zoom meeting of the seminar at the scheduled time.
Yet in April this year, under the same risk management assessment, management allowed Israel IS, an organisation set up to promote the Israeli Defence Force, to bring former Israeli soldiers onto UTS to speak. Students were told a speakout against this would be considered an unauthorised protest under campus policy and students could be issued with move on orders. The protest went ahead regardless.
Security tried to stop students leafleting for protests on several occasions, and lecture announcements about Palestine have also been prevented.
But even with all this suppression, the significance of this win for all UTS organisations campaigning for the cut is monumental. It follows campaigns that have successfully ended student exchange partnerships with the Hebrew University at University of WA, Ben Gurion University at Curtin Uni, and the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design at Sydney Uni.
We need to keep fighting to end all university ties with Israel. This kind of campaigning can help broaden support for Palestine on university campuses, and build support for broader demands for Albanese & federal powers to cut ties with Israel through sanctions on weapons exports and a ban on trade.
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