Al-Quds University Administration strongly condemns the Israeli occupation forces’ raid on the main campus in the town of Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem, on Tuesday, December 9, 2025, in an operation marked by a dangerous escalation one day after the university celebrated the lighting of the Christmas tree in the presence of dignitaries and representatives of all Christian denominations in Palestine.

The university also expresses its condemnation and absolute rejection of the attempt to impose a fait accompli by intimidating students through military incursions and the widespread deployment of forces within a number of university facilities and faculties, including the interrogation of students in their classrooms while they were receiving their regular university education.

The university also considers the occupation forces’ intimidation and interrogation of students in their classrooms to be a dangerous escalation and a direct violation of their safety and educational environment, as well as a flagrant violation of all international laws and norms that guarantee the sanctity and protection of educational institutions.

Al-Quds University, the leading Palestinian university renowned for its academic and scientific work and its cultural and humanitarian role regionally and internationally, affirms that this raid constitutes a flagrant violation of the sanctity and sovereignty of universities guaranteed by international law and academic norms upheld by international conventions and UN declarations. It is also a blatant attack on academic freedom and human values, which the university represented yesterday, Monday, through the unity of hearts among students, staff, the local community, and all believers, marking the start of Christmas celebrations, which the whole world celebrates as a reminder and evocation of the values of love, tolerance, and brotherhood, and for which Al-Quds University has always been a beacon of civilization.

The university demands immediate and concrete action by international organizations, foremost among them the United Nations, UNESCO, the Association of Arab Universities, academic and human rights institutions around the world, and foreign embassies operating in Palestine, to assume their legal and moral responsibilities in confronting these violations and to provide full protection for Palestinian universities, their staff, and their students.

This brutal, unprecedented, and unjustified attack is a flagrant violation of all international laws and norms that guarantee the sanctity and protection of educational institutions. It comes as part of an escalating series of systematic attacks on Palestinian higher education, in the context of the comprehensive aggression against our people in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. It also coincided with a similar criminal raid at dawn today on the campus of Birzeit University in Ramallah.

Al-Quds University, a long-standing scientific and academic institution, will not hesitate to fulfill its educational, academic, and cultural mission, and will continue to defend the right of its students to free and safe education, despite all circumstances and violations.

We seek God’s protection and safety for our people and our land, and ask Him to protect our students and staff at our universities from all harm.