A group of Cambridge students has published a statement condemning the use of anti-Israel rhetoric by university academics. The statement, with 61 signatories, is a direct reaction to a similar piece released late last month by a group of university academics.

On the 28th September, a variety of Cambridge scholars voiced their opposition to the recent actions and posture of the Israeli state during the latest escalation of the conflict in Gaza.

The Palestine statement, published on blogspot.co.uk, called for ‘’an end to the violence perpetrated by the state of Israel against Palestinians, an end to the siege of Gaza and to the occupation, and an end to the discriminatory and dehumanising treatment of Palestinian citizens within Israel.’’

The roughly 60 supporters of the new, pro-Israel statement have taken strong exception to the “misguided and myopic statement issued by Cambridge academics [and to] the discriminatory practices of our university lecturers”.

According to these students, the singling-out of Israel is immoral, particularly considering that several global conflicts have produced much higher death tolls. The signatories further urge the pro-Palestine academics not to rely so heavily on figures concerning civilian deaths released by Hamas.

The statement goes on to underline the poor treatment of Palestinians in Lebanon, the civilian casualties in Syria and Iraq and the military asymmetry between China and Tibetan and Taiwanese separatists.

These conflicts, according to the Cambridge group, provide a global context in which the students “condemn these academics for singling out Israel, the policies of which are open to criticism like any government’s, but which has been deemed by this group to be the only country in the world worth criticising.”

The students, from a variety of colleges and disciplines, pointed to their objection to the pro-Palestine scholars on legal, philosophical and historical grounds, describing Gaza rocket attacks on Israel as war crimes, calling the failure to mention Hamas moral hypocrisy and pointing to the roots of the Gaza blockade.

The Cambridge University Israel Society commented on this independently issued statement as follows: “This eye-opening letter from the student body rightly highlights the lack of nuance from some Cambridge academics in their strikingly un-academic torrent of criticism levelled at Israel.”

The Cambridge University Palestinian Society and the authors of the previous pro-Palestine statement could not be reached for comment.

The publication of the statement on blogspot.co.uk occurred a couple of days after the House of Commons voted to recognise Palestine as an independent nation state and a just before the visit of the Israeli Ambassador Daniel Taub to the Cambridge Union Society.

Since 2011 Taub has held the position of Ambassador to the UK and has since been extensively involved in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Taub has also served as the Principal Deputy Legal Advisor to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and as a legal advisor in Israeli missions to the United Nations.

Security is understood to be particularly tight for the ambassador’s talk on Monday 20th October at the Cambridge Union Society, especially considering the global controversy generated by the most recent spate of fighting in the region.

During the most recent Hamas-IDF fighting, 2,100 people were killed in Gaza, including 500 children. On the Israeli side, casualties totaled 64 soldiers and 6 civilians.