Over 1,600 faculty members and students on Sunday urged the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, to desist from offering itself as a platform for an India-Israel Business Summit scheduled for Monday, citing Israel’s assaults on Gaza.

The faculty members and students, in an open online letter to the IISc director, said they were writing to express concern that the IISc is sponsoring and hosting the event that is scheduled to discuss bilateral trade and investments, defence and cybersecurity, startup and venture capital, and sustainable energy.

“It is unconscionable for IISc to encourage collaborations between India and Israel,” the letter said. “We are especially concerned that one of the planned tracks of discussion is defence and cybersecurity. Such cooperation would amount to direct support for Israel’s genocide in Palestine and its aggressive actions against its neighbours.”

The letter said Israel had killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, most of whom were women and children, and cited a report in The Lancet, an international medical journal, that had suggested that the actual casualties might be four times higher, which would be about 10 per cent of Gaza’s population.

The signatories to the letter include faculty members and students from IISc, Ashoka University, Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences, Pilani, Chennai Mathematical Institute, Delhi University, Indian Institutes of Technology in Bombay, Kanpur, and the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Calcutta, among other institutions in India and abroad.

The letter to the IISc has cited a recent International Court of Justice ruling that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories violated international law and has said that the UN General Assembly recently passed a resolution with an overwhelming majority urging an end to the occupation.

“We also witness the world academic community and various universities divesting from Israel due to students and faculty members coming out in solidarity with Palestine,” the letter said.

India has joined other countries in calling for a ceasefire and restraint but the Israel-Hamas war has not impacted the India-Israel relationship.

Over 4,800 Indian workers have been deployed in Israel following a request from that country for 10,000 Indian workers under an India-Israel pact on the facilitation of temporary Indian workers in specific labour market segments, the Union labour ministry had told Parliament in July this year.

Central trade unions, except the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, have been opposing the government’s decision to facilitate the deployment of workers in Israel.