Students projected demands to “boycott Israel” onto King’s College last night, lighting up the chapel with the words “Cambridge University is supporting a genocide”.

Text saying “Israel is committing a genocide” was shone onto the chapel walls, followed by the statement “not in our names” and “Cambridge students and staff demand a ceasefire”.

An anonymous student involved in the action explained their motivations to Varsity, describing the projections as a means to pressure Cambridge to “use its position in public life as one of the most well-known universities in the world to set an ethical example for others.”

They continued, calling on Cambridge to “denounce the collective genocidal punishment enacted by Israel on Gaza” and “be on the right side of history”.

“Completely divest from all companies involved, stop taking their money, stop facilitating their research, and do not be complicit in the ongoing Nakba”, the student continued.

Israel has been conducting a retaliatory airstrike, siege, and ground invasion campaign on Gaza following the October 7th attacks.

In that time period, over 9,000 people in Gaza have been killed.

The October 7th Hamas attacks killed 1,400 people in Israel. Hamas, a Palestinian organisation of Islamist militants, is designated a terrorist group by Israel, the UK, the US, and other powers.

Calls for divestment have been building on campus over the last few weeks.

Protesters at last Saturday’s pro-Palestinian demonstrations claimed the University is “making money at the expense of Palestinian lives”.

This came after almost 1500 students and staff demanded Cambridge “sever financial ties with Israel” in a letter delivered to the vice-chancellor two weeks ago, to which the university is yet to respond.

Cambridge’s removal of financial ties to the Russian Federation after the invasion of Ukraine has been cited as precedent for this type of decision.

In March 2022, Cambridge publicly released and largely brought to an end its connections with Russia through university endowment fund investments, research funding, donations, and academic partnerships.

At last weekend’s protests, speakers also claimed the university is a “stakeholder” in companies that “unleash brutality on Palestinians”.

In Cambridge’s evaluations of ties to the Russian Federation, organisations and individuals were considered.

Pro-Palestinian student societies have named Israeli armoured vehicle manufacturer Plasan and more well known corporations like Boeing, BAE Systems, and Caterpillar as organisations that should be included in any potential university evaluation.