Statement on the memorial service for Yousef Shaban (11/2023)

University leaders are outraged by the conduct of a memorial service for Yousef Shaban today (Nov. 2) on the campus of the University of Kassel and feel their trust has been betrayed.

Yousef Shaban is a graduate of the university who was recently killed in acts of war in the Gaza Strip. The request of a group of fellow students for a public memorial service had been granted by the university administration, but under the condition that there would be no political rally. This had been assured by the organizers. Under these conditions, the university president Prof. Dr. Ute Clement had agreed to speak a few words of remembrance. However, the organizers reneged on this agreement. The event was then terminated after repeated requests.

It is the conviction of the university management that no one-sided apportionment of blame is possible in this centuries-old conflict. Any NS comparisons are forbidden.

In principle and independently of this event, the university management is convinced that neither Israel's right to exist nor the Palestinians' right to their own state may be called into question. Any form of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia must be rejected, as well as any form of terror.