Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah Candidacy for Rector of the University of Glasgow

That the Parliament welcomes the reported announcement that Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah will run as a candidate for Rector of the University of Glasgow; commends Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah’s lifesaving work as a war surgeon in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, South Lebanon and Gaza and what it sees as his commitment to the people of Palestine and what it considers to be their cause, having worked, it understands, during four wars in the Gaza Strip, including for 43 days beginning in October 2023; understands that Dr Abu-Sittah has pledged to pressure the university to condemn what it sees as Israel’s current genocidal campaign, which has reportedly already resulted in the death of a former University of Glasgow student, Dima Alhaj, as well as to divest the university from all arms companies and forge connections with the academic institutions of Palestine, and notes the months of devastation that it considers have been inflicted on the people of Gaza and the occupied West Bank by Israeli occupation forces, and which have reportedly resulted in the deaths of around 30,000 people, including at least 11,000 children.