As part of its legal oversight duties, the President’s Executive Council of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (HU) has examined Resolution SP-33/45 ‘Solidarity with Palestine – HU’s involvement in genocide’, which was adopted on 9 July 2026 by the Students Parliament of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.
The review covered all elements of the resolution from a legal perspective. Consequently, the President’s Executive Council concluded that the provisions in points 9 and 10, which are intended to bind the actions of the constituted student body to the principles of the BDS movement, not only exceed the constitutional student body’s mandate in higher education policy but also contravene the statutory prohibition on discrimination. The President’s Executive Council sees an immediate need for action here to counteract a climate in which Jewish and Israeli students in particular at the HU feel threatened by bodies of the recognised student body – which are supposed to represent their interests – on the basis of their origin or faith.
The President’s Executive Council has therefore, within the scope of its legal oversight of the constituted student body, repealed the relevant parts of the resolution. The Students Parliament and the RefRat (legally known as the AStA) have been called upon to refrain from any actions aimed at implementing the repealed resolutions.
HU’s cooperation with Israeli academic institutions
The legal objection expressly does not cover the questioning of the HU’s cooperation with Israeli academic institutions as set out in the Students Parliament’s resolution. This issue may be discussed as a specific matter of higher education policy, provided that such discussion is based on facts, adheres to the principles of open and respectful exchange, and respects fundamental constitutional values. Such a discussion is scheduled for the meeting of the HU’s University Senate in September.
Humboldt-Universität advocates a nuanced view of developments, continuously reviews its international collaborations against legal and academic standards, and is committed to its responsibilities as an academic institution. This includes freedom of research and teaching, the upholding of human dignity and the protection of all members of the university, as well as the maintenance of an open and non-discriminatory space for scholarship and discourse. On this basis, the President’s Executive Council of Humboldt-Universität has concluded that it should continue its cooperation with Israeli academic partner institutions.
“I am observing with great concern that discussions about the Middle East conflict within the organised student body are becoming highly polarised,” says Niels Helle-Meyer, Anti-Semitism Officer at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. This makes it all the more important to keep channels of dialogue and discourse open and to bring different perspectives into conversation with one another. This offer from the President’s Executive Council remains expressly open to the bodies of the organised student body as well.