Beijing has been vocal about the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and continues to advocate for a two-state solution while Israel rejects both.
The Chinese University of Business and Economics (UIBE) announced it will halt new student enrollments in the fall at its Israel campus due to what it described as “difficulties posed” by the war in Gaza, as reported on Tuesday by the South China Morning Post.
Vice President of UIBE- Israel, Netanel Vaknin described the move as a postponement matter rather than closure. He attributed the suspension of enrollment to logistical issues rather than political ones. The move according to Vankin is “unrelated to political relations between Israel and China.”
China Declares Support for Iran’s Right to ‘Safeguard National Security’ – What It Means
“Our license requires us to have a substantial amount of faculty members from China, from UIBE-Beijing. And due to the war restrictions of traveling from China to Israel … we couldn’t fulfill the very basic requirement of (hosting) academics from China,” Vaknin explained.
The enrollment suspension is allegedly related to the difficulties Chinese faculty members face when traveling to Israel since the outbreak of the war on Gaza on October 7 last year.
However, relations between Israel and China have been tense since the start of the war on Gaza.
“These last 10 months actually emphasized a huge difference between our country’s values to China’s values,” Vaknin said.
Beijing has been vocal about the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and continues to advocate for a two-state solution while Israel rejects both.
‘Our Unity is Critical’ – Ramzy Baroud about US Decline and China’s Rise in the Middle East (VIDEO)
Beijing also brokered a long-awaited unity agreement last July between Palestinian political groups.
Most recently, China was amongst the countries that condemned the assassination of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
This coincided with a slowdown in bilateral trade last year.
Ongoing Genocide
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 39,929 Palestinians have been killed, and 92,240 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(Anadolu, PC)
