On Saturday morning, the radical Islamic Hamas had attacked Israeli cities from the Gaza Strip with more than 3,000 rockets. At the same time, armed militants invaded the country by land, sea, and air. Israel responded with air strikes on Hamas locations. As of Monday, about 700 Israeli civilians and soldiers lost their lives in these attacks, and more than 400 people were killed in the Gaza Strip in counterattacks by the Israeli military. Israeli head of state Benjamin Netanyahu has now declared a state of war.
Prof. Dr. Florian J. Schweigert, Vice President for International Affairs and Fundraising, explains: “We are in touch with our students in Israel to support them as best we can from here. We do not currently have any visiting scholars working there. We are very dismayed and hope for an early end to this terrible attack.”
The University of Potsdam has maintained close relations with Israeli institutions of higher education for many years. As recently as March 2023, a Potsdam delegation had traveled to Israel to expand existing and establish new partnerships with universities there. The Potsdam alma mater has a strategic partnership with Tel Aviv University (TAU) in particular, with exchange programs for students, doctoral candidates, postdocs and employees, as well as cooperation projects in research and knowledge and technology transfer.
Research collaborations exist primarily with TAU as well as Hebrew University and the University of Haifa. In the near future, there are plans for science management collaborations with TAU, Ph.D. student exchanges, and joint meetings of the vice presidents on the topic of best practices. Given the wide range of joint activities, both partners regard each other as strategically important partners.
Contact:
Dr. Silke Engel, Spokesperson of the University of Potsdam
Phone: +49 331 977-1496
Mail: silke.engeluuni-potsdampde
Media information 09-10-2023 / Nr. 104