THE rector of the University of Glasgow has warned the institution that it is “complicit in the crimes of this century” after management refused to divest from arms firms linked to Israel.

The Scottish institution’s ruling court drew anger from staff and students last week after it ignored an overwhelming majority and ruled that it would continue investing in weapons companies.

An email sent to staff and shared with The National by multiple sources said that bosses had considered “that the University’s endowment fund should disinvest completely in companies that earn more than 10% of their income from the defence sector”.

It noted that "this view was backed by a clear majority of staff and students who responded to the consultation exercise" – 81% of staff and 86% of students.

But the email went on: “However, court accepted the advice of senior managers that the university should not require fund managers to disinvest.”

It said the decision was due to the university’s connection with arms firms.

Now, Ghassan Abu-Sittah, the renowned Palestinian surgeon who was elected Glasgow University rector by a resounding majority of students earlier this year, has spoken out.

Palestinian surgeon and Glasgow University alumnus Ghassan Abu-Sittah (Image: Hussein Malla/AP) Talking to The National from Lebanon, where he is currently treating war-wounded, the medical expert said it was disappointing that the university’s decision remained “even after the International Criminal Court has joined the International Court of Justice in identifying what is happening in Palestine, and now in Lebanon, as war crimes and what is happening in Gaza as plausibly a genocide”.

He went on: “British arms manufacturers, as a result of the failure of this Government – like the previous government – to impose meaningful arms embargoes, continue to be a provider of the weapons by which these war crimes are being committed.

“Glasgow University has missed a unique opportunity to cut its ties with these manufacturers and therefore reduce its liability as being complicit in the crimes of this century.”

Abu-Sittah is an alumnus of Glasgow University and a world-leading expert on war-injured patients and children. He has worked in Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Palestine as well as Beirut, where he set up a programme providing free cleft care for refugee children, a discipline he learned training at Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital in London.

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He told The National: “Currently, I am treating the war-wounded in Lebanon.

“These war-wounded, many of whom are children, have been wounded by weapons delivered by British arms manufacturers to Israel during the genocide so that they can be used in the war in Lebanon.

“These manufacturers are part-owned by Glasgow University and the failure of the university to cut its ties and divest means that it is prepared to continue to become complicit in these crimes.”

The controversial endowment fund was worth a total of £262 million at the end of July 2024.

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A publicly available list of investments from 2023 includes shares in weapons firms linked to Israel such as BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin and Thales. Analysis of the list suggests that the total sum of shares in defence companies held by the University of Glasgow is £3.1m.

However, it is hard to know exactly what funding sits where. For example, firms like Boeing manufacture both missiles and commercial jets.

Sources within the university told The National they were “disgusted”, and questioned why Glasgow University would not divest “such a small amount of money, when you look at their entire investment portfolio”.

Asked for comment, the University of Glasgow directed this paper to the statement issued last week to staff.