Actor Olwen Fouéré has turned down an honorary doctorate from the University of Galway due to an “extremely problematic” contract linking the college to Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology.
The 71-year-old actor, who was born in Galway to French parents, has performed many celebrated roles in theatre, films and television including appearances on The Crown and Derry Girls.
Ms Fouéré was due to receive the honorary degree at a ceremony on Thursday but has declined over the university’s links to the Israeli college and her opposition to Israel’s military offensive in Gaza.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, she said she was initially “overjoyed” to be offered the doctorate but after “a great deal of thought” felt obliged to refuse it.
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Ms Fouéré said many staff and students have called for the university to cut all ties with Israeli companies, saying these demands “have been met with avoidance, delay and legal obfuscation”.
She noted that staff at the university’s Irish Centre for Human Rights have “worked diligently to promote justice in Palestine and to condemn, with good academic and moral authority, the crime of genocide”.
In September, Prof Peter McHugh, the university’s interim president at the time, said the college would not participate in any new institutional research agreements involving direct Israeli partners.
However, the university confirmed it would continue its involvement as a co-ordinating partner in an existing €3.9 million research project – which is examining ways to produce hydrogen from seawater – also involving Technion.
Ms Fouéré said the contract in question was “extremely problematic”.
She said Technion had trained many future Israeli military leaders and helped to develop tank and drone technologies used by the Israeli military.
[ Palestinian economy suffers collapse after Israel-Hamas conflict, UN saysOpens in new window ]
Ms Fouéré said she had “originally planned to accept the honorary degree and make a statement of intent to challenge [the university’s] delay in terminating the Technion contract”.
“I believed that I could take on this challenge more effectively from within, as a newly conferred honorary alumni,” she said.
However, she added that after “a great deal of thought”, she had “regrettably come to believe that the stronger, and perhaps more visible, action is in refusing to accept an honorary degree at this moment”.
“I would of course be more than happy to accept if and when the remaining ties with Technion were cut,” she said.
Ms Fouéré called on the new president of the university, Prof David Burn, and other management “to fulfil the University’s promise of divestment and to sever all ties with Technion and the Israeli regime”.
When asked about Ms Fouéré’s statement, a spokeswoman for the university said the institution “remains committed to exploring ways forward in relation to the research partnership”.
Almost 70,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 170,000 people injured in the last two years, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza after Palestinian militant group Hamas led an attack on southern Israel on October 7th, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and abducting 251 hostages.
[ Israel receives remains of hostage held in Gaza from Red CrossOpens in new window ]
