The mail below was sent to all students by a group of law professors and professors from non-law departments at Jindal. I think it's huge news for an Indian law school to get involved like this. Progressive humanities-based universities like JNU and Jamia have held Palestine solidarity events for many years. But I don't think law professors and students in India have ever done so (at least in recent memory). The reasons could be many: traditional detachment of NLUs from politics, lack of political student unions and fear of reprisal from neoliberal capitalists (as we saw recently, corporate law firm job offers for some Harvard and NYU Law School students were rescinded).

What's especially courageous about the effort at Jindal is that they have invited Professor Achin Vanaik, eminent pro-Palestine peace activist and one of the leaders of the Indian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. Will NLUs now draw inspiration and follow suit?

Dear students and colleagues,

I am writing on behalf of several faculty at JGU, who are grieved and concerned over the unfolding of events described as “genocide” by several human rights organizations, journalists, activists on the ground, and scholars. While we mourn the suffering and loss that both Palestinians and Israelis have experienced since October, it is hard not to keep in mind histories of what has been documented by several mainstream institutions, even the UN, as being textbook cases of ethnic-cleansing, settler-colonialism, apartheid, and a long-standing brutal occupation of/in Palestine – often even traced to the moments of the creation of Israel in 1948. In fact, UN experts have termed the current events as a “new instance of mass ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.” Gaza, in particular, which has been at the center of Israel’s current military offensive (though not the only location of such attacks), is often described as one of the world’s largest “open-air prison.” It is one of the most densely populated regions in the world, with over 2 million people living in a fenced area of around 350 square kilometers. It has been under a military blockade since 2007, and people are trapped with limited/no access to clean water, electricity or a proper sewage system, employment, and health facilities for years now.

As the state of Israel inflicts untold horrors on a besieged Palestinian population, including resorting to collective punishment, many of us felt a sense of helplessness. We met together to talk about the ongoing crisis and realized that most of our students, and some of our colleagues and friends have been finding it challenging to put into context all that they see unfold; most share a genuine interest in learning more and educating themselves. Over and above the limitation in piecing together the background, the challenge to understand the present gets further exacerbated in our times of mass disinformation, censorship on social media, deaths of several prominent journalists reporting from the ground, and near-impossible reporting conditions in Gaza without food, water, electricity, and internet.

As we are at a university of international repute and standing, particularly one which puts great emphasis on liberal arts, humanities, social sciences, and interdisciplinary education, it is hard to see this as a distant event. This is especially urgent at a time when universities in Palestine call out to academic communities across the world, reminding us, in the very least, “to fulfil [our] intellectual and academic duty of seeking truth” and to not be silent in the wake of what many term as genocide. (For instance, see the open letter from Birzeit University of Palestine titled “Do Not be Silent about Genocide” here).

With the above in mind, we, the copied faculty members on this email, have organized a teach-in primarily for our students, which hopefully will be useful for all of us, to learn and understand more about the history and politics of the Palestinian present. We are pleased to announce that Achin Vanaik, retired Professor of International Relations, former HOD of Political Science and former Dean of Delhi University, has kindly agreed to lead the teach-in session on Wednesday Nov 1, 2023, from 3:00 - 5:00 pm where he will discuss the history of Palestine and the Palestinian struggle up to the present. We hope that many of you will be able to join us and encourage your friends and colleagues to attend as well.

Title of Teach-in: The History and Politics of the Palestinian Present--A Teach-in

Speaker: Retd. Prof. Achin Vanaik

Venue: T3 Global Auditorium

Date-time: Wednesday November 1, 2023, 3:00 - 5:00 pm

As a fellow Jindal student, it is sad to see you make such claims about our faculty, especially the law profs. No other law school in the country offers as many diverse electives as we do. Our electives are offered based on niches within niches. With profs like Arjya Majumdar, Karan Latayan, Manveen Singh, Manasi Kumar, Indranath Gupta, Avirup Bose offering courses like Securities Regulation, Commercial Contract Drafting, Merger Control, GDPR v. South Asian data protection legislations, Standard Essential Patents, EU Competition law, what else do you classify as commercial?

There’s no doubt that NLUs and other universities are better than Jindal right now but making such a generalised comment without considering the opportunities JGLS has to offer probably showcases how you’re not making the most of what’s available.

Don’t even get me started on our CLAIM and LEAD courses. If learning was the outcome that you’re basing this on, set aside credits and grades, what more do you want than to be taught commercial law by the likes of Partners who have 20+ years experience at firms like SAM, CAM, AZB, NDA, Khaitan etc.

With no malice at all, I sincerely advise you to sit in these courses and just reconsider what JGLS has to offer.

I agree that there's an issue about the number of students being taught per elective. That should be increased.

However, in my personal experience, I haven't faced any sub-standard material being taught to me by these profs.

Nonetheless, my point still stands, if you search for what you need, you'll find it at JGLS.

Impossible is a stretch. People whine about not getting electives but none of them are willing to audit them for the learning experience. If you care so much, not a single prof will stop you from entering their classes. Also, you essentially have three years of elective picking and for courses that are offered every alternate sem, you have three chances to get them.

I agree that the total number of seats needs to be increased but if you truly want to learn then just go sit in the class, it isn't that tough.

> as we saw recently, corporate law firm job offers for some Harvard and NYU Law School students were rescinded

They didn't lose their jobs merely over supporting a two-state solution, advocating for humanitarian aid or heck, even wanting a ceasefire. They went as far as openly supporting an Islamic terrorist organization like Hamas and justifying the October 7 attacks. Free speech is all good but a line must be drawn when it comes to supporting LITERAL TERRORISTS. Be as pro Palestine as you want to be, as long you don't stoop low enough to support mass murder of civilians.

Also, the email mentioned that Gaza has been blockaded since 2007 but did not care to explain why. Wonder why.

I find it ironic how Israel gets so much flak for violating human rights while every single other Middle Eastern nation has a norm of gender apartheid (treating women as second class citizens) and de facto death for queer people. Doesn't mean Israel is perfect, but they're miles better than any of their barbaric neighbors.

Civility? From people who have on this forum said the most anti semetic things one has ever heard?

This is what article 7 of the hamas charter says : "The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews."

This is what you think is civil? This is what youre comparing to israel trying to protect civilian life while fighting an unprovoked attack on its citizens?

https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hamas.asp

Here is the hamas charter- Read it fully before you make a fool of yourself. Surely if youre right you shouldnt be scared by the information no?

How is Israel killing Palestinian civilians including children and the old mercilessly helping them to protect civilian life exactly? You all keep saying (rightfully) that Hamas is a terrorist organisation that does not care for human lives. So doesn't Israel, despite actually being a legit government, but you refuse to acknowledge that.

Dont shift the argument. The comparison was hamas and israel- you want the comparison to be israel and ordinary civilians- the only fair way to compare that is israeli civilians and palestinian civilians- and anyone thinking its okay to compare civilians morally to decide who lives or dies is honestly despicable.

When it comes to the state- When a group of religious terrorists explicitly say they want to kill jews, that they dont believe in any two state solution, when that group goes on to actually kill jews. I think its honestly noble for israel to defend its citizens and its existence. I think ANY loss of civilian life in a war is terrible- but it is a war. It is a war israel has tried to avoid time and time again but they cannot avoid it because the other guys love their kids less than they hate jews. And hamas does use these people as human sheilds- Israel does more than any other country to prevent civilian casualties - If they really wanted to "genocide" palestinians- with israels military- there would be no palestinians left in the middle east. They have in the past demonstrated that while they are in a difficult situation they are doing the best they can. It would not be civil or moral to let terrorists kill your people and destroy your country. Legit governments have a duty to protect their citizens even if that means war against terrorist organisations who seek to destroy them. Thats why you have a government, thats why you have a military. If they failed to do that they would be feckless and corrupt.

Do u even how to make an argument at all. First, of all how are you considering them as civilians and second, yes, that's where all the difference is one is targeting innocent civilians to murder brutally while the other is killing terrorist wherein some civilians may die as non deliberate collateral.

Israel has no other choice when Hamas terrorists hide in civilian areas. They do this cowardly after every attack, to escape any form of accountability whatsoever. Israel takes plenty of possible measures to avoid civilian casualties but collateral damages are unavoidable in such a war. This war wouldn't have taken place if not for the barbarism done by Hamas.

Stop this nonsense! Do u have any proof at all . You are believing figures by hamas and ask yourself who is putting them on line of fire ? Also, why this cringe charade of women n children aren't they jihadis as well. Women have been suicide bombers in Palestine and children have been made into anti Semitic monsters for example aged tamimi

Its not their territory. Jews have lived in judea since the common era. They have been driven out of that land by christians, muslims, arabs, ottoman turks, romans, and the british- but they have kept going back because they are the natives of that land. Learn some history.

inb4 " so youre saying israel is always right" - no ofcourse not, but if you use nativist logic to justify the massacre of women and babies- rape and child murder- then not only are you just- awful- but youre also just wrong.

Israel as a state has existed for 70 something years. It already exists- to debate its existence now- existence not its policies- is antisemetic. Israel has offered a two state solution multiple times in modern history, it gave away the sinai peninsula to egypt to get peace- ehud barak and clinton worked together to give palestinians more land than they currently hold- much much more land- but the PLO refused because they didnt want a half a loaf of bread- they wanted the whole loaf. From the river to the sea means from the jordan river to the mediterranean sea. This is a religious fundamentalist movement. What happens to the only jewish country in the world if that goal is achieved? What happens to jews who live there? where do you propose they go? Europe where they were rounded up and sent to gas chambers? Maybe america where theyre subject to the violence of right and the left? australia where theyre chanting gas the jews? If they dont stay in the only land they have consistently called home throughout history- where should they go?

When you look at history- Hamas is clearly an organisation that is not interested in a two state solution- they have walked away without a counteroffer multiple times, they construct tunnels underneath hospitals and they use those tunnels to smuggle in weapons and not food. How many new schools has hamas built in the last five years? Where does Hamas' money go? There is constantly humanitarian aid going into Gaza- where does it all go? This is a religious war for these people and they are fundamentalists and they are terrorists.

There are actual facts in this situation- its not about turning a phrase around or saying "no u" . its not about clever wordplay. Educate yourself.

No so explain what they should do? They pin point locations, they avoid bombing high population density areas, they even drop leaflets, do phone calls and texts and other kinds of announcements to tell people to get out. What is your solution for them? Should they just let hamas kill their babies rape their daughters and kidnap grandma to maintain moral high ground in your eyes? I'm seriously asking- What should they do that is not suicide?

They have offered peace through out history- each time they have been rebuffed with prejudice and then a hamas sends in rockets to kill babies and keeps attacking them in these horrenduous ways.

Pretend for a minute youre interested in actually finding a solution to this problem and not in just virtue signalling- that you actually want peace for palestinians- what is your proposal to achieve that? that jews should just let themselves be killed?

Your opinion about israel offering peace solutions is laughable. It's like me saying agree to all my terms and then i won't kill you. As for killing babies, so you are saying that israel is taking revenge for that by killing the Palestinian babies. Well spent money on your education! slow clap

A two state solution is not enough? What else should they offer? Hamas did not even make a counter to Ehud Baraks offers did you know that? What short of self annihilation is acceptable to you? Hamas in its charter says that they want to kill jews and they want the state of israel to not exist- do you think thats a fair negotiating position?

There is a difference between taking revenge and ensuring that the terrorist organisation that massacred innocent civilians is ceasing to exist. Allowing terrorists to keep doing what they do is morally wrong. even if you like the aesthetics of it. If tomorrow some terrorists were coming into your town and killing your babies and raping your sisters and torturing your men and kidnapping your grandma- would you want the state to sit on its hands and do nothing? Or would you want them to destroy the terrorist organisation that did that to you?

There's no point in arguing with you as it has already been proven that it wasn't israel but Palestinian islamic jihad so , you just keep on regurgitating the already debunked fakes news propaganda and why can't they bomb a so called hospital if it's actually a Hamas shelter and launch pad and that's the frequent case in Gaza

You misunderstand the meaning of "free speech." Free speech means free of government interference. It does not mean consequence-free speech. Private employers in the US have the right to hire and retain whomever they wish to, so long as they do not engage in prohibited discrimination. Refusing to hire ass clowns who support terrorists such as Hamas is not prohibited under US law. Any US-oriented colleges or businesses who catch wind of Jindal folks supporting Hamas are forewarned; one should expect doxing and complaints to the Indian firms who hire such participants. Ask the Indian jatkphatka group Ghungroo at Harvard that signed the pro-Hamas statement. They'll rightly suffer for that for years.

Hamas is designated a terrorist organisation in the USA but not in India (yes, Modi sarkar has not notified them under UAPA). In the US if you are supporting them you are providing support to a terrorist organisation under the law. That's not the case in India. So the situations can't be compared.

Anyway this is irrelevant since the email mentions nothing about supporting Hamas at all. Let's see what is actually said at the event tomorrow.

I hate Hamas and absolutely hate those who support them (not to be equated with support for Palestine), but if firms start getting more and more picky on the basis of political views then it won't be good for anyone in the long run. But anyway, not wanting to be associated with terrorist supporters is completely valid.

irony of ironies- this is what article 13 of the hamas charter says :

"Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement"

I wonder if theyll talk about that at all? or is at all gonna be illegal occupation, apartheid, lalala - none of which are factually true?

To the practitioners who have read this thread on LI.

This event is organised by a handful of virtue signalling liberal arts professors with degrees from foreign universities no one has ever heard of. Their credibility is absolutely zero and are the kind of professors who would mark a student based on their political ideology and not the quality of the paper.

What’s worse? Yes, Jindal has a reputation of being a libbie echo chamber, but that ideology is largely spearheaded by a coterie of underperforming liberal faculty with no actual connection to the law and students with fledgling academic performance but a shit ton of daddy’s money.

The point of this comment is that most of what the liberal vomit that originates from JGU is from a handful of students and faculty. It isn’t representative of the thoughts that originate from a majority of the students, most of us are actually hardworking and aware of how privileged we are. The liberal agenda more often than not makes headlines and that offsets whatever progress students make on their own. Just a request to actually look at a student’s CV before writing him/her off as a privileged brat… some of us are, but most of us not.

Events like these are a sham and most of us do not support them unequivocally.

This is not the US kiddo...recruiters don't care about the ideology of your college or profs (or you for that matter). Every college/university will have a 100 events every year...you think recruiters waste time tracking all of them?

Just focus on your grades. Attend the event if you want, avoid it if you don't. Just don't indulge in any violent activity that will reflect in your disciplinary record or get you named in an FIR.

Spot on! Corp faculty like Prof. Nemika Jha, Prof. Arjya (although disproportionately low in numbers) that actually look out for students organise seminars by inviting partners from KCO, AZB on a regular basis! Helps in giving a practical perspective of the law! Unfortunately the limelight gets hogged by dumb seminars like the Palestine-Israel one that OP mentioned which ends up creating stereotypes. Ofcourse the number of noteworthy corp law faculty has been on a decline and the massive batch size does not help.

"Those people, who I don't agree with, are the ideological buffoons. We are the hard working nice ones obviously. So I'll shitpost about them and make it look like they are morally bankrupt when I am probably a disgruntled student who cannot publicly argue on this issue and rather post my anguish on this anonymous thread."

PSA: Friends in NLUs and JGLS, it's time for y'all to stop pandering to law firms and companies . We need to only #StandWithPalestine, but also highlight the #ClimateCrisis and shame eco-villains like Adani, Tata, Shell, Exxon Mobil etc.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/09/revealed-20-firms-third-carbon-emissions

Fuck recruitments. Remember, these firms and companies need us more than we need them. They will suffer if they boycott NLUs and JGLS and instead recruit from Amity and GLC.

less than 15% of Jindal students get placed. The firms definitely dont need you more than you need them. How very contradictory it is to at once present yourself at woke and at the same time be so elitist to think students who went to GLC are less capable than you. Youve gone full woke my friend- put the phone away and go touch grass.

Hi guys. I just wanted to share that there is a silent majority of profs and students who are NOT a part of tomorrow's so-called Palestine solidarity event. This is obvious from the fact that the number of profs who did NOT sign the open letter sent to us, and the number of students who will NOT be attending the event, is MUCH higher. As a part of this silent majority, let me say that we SUPPORT the the two-state solution and we OPPOSE Hamas, antisemitism and Islamic fundamentalism. We also STAND with the Israeli people. In terms of ideology, many of us are NOT conservatives. Many are centrist and centre-left.

Also, a corporate law prof wrote a mail to the faculty critiquing the event, which has been shared with a few students. Below is the mail (name of the professor redacted). So please don't put Jindal in the same league as JNU, Jamia, Jadavpur, Ashoka etc. 🙏

Dear Colleagues,

As a university this is a space where any and all talks may and should happen. And I welcome this.

Even though I will not be attending this talk, I just wanted to make one point – it is, in my opinion, unwise to conflate Hamas and Palestinians, which is perhaps not what you intended in your message, but inadvertently have done by asking us to ‘keep in mind histories’.

Hamas is a terror group. While there may be difficulties in ascertaining what constitutes terrorism, I am certain that nobody in this group would see the attacks on October 7 carried out by Hamas agents and live-streamed with joy, as anything but terrorism. They even fight under their own flag, not the Palestinian flag. Whether the Indian government ever feels comfortable going ahead and recognizing them as a terrorist organization or not, I think almost everyone agrees with such an assessment of what happened on October 7. Irrespective of the histories.

Also, thank you for sharing the letter from Birzeit University. It is heartbreaking. But one point about that letter should be mentioned – the Israeli government has not called Palestinians ‘human animals’. They have been calling Hamas that.

All this being said, I want to again state that I am very deeply troubled and affected by the impact that this is having on Gazans. I am not trying to make a political statement of any kind. Although someone might certainly read it as that in these fraught times. I am just trying to suggest we should try to not conflate Hamas and its actions on October 7 with the Palestinians and their cause.

Hello friends. I am writing to share that the event was a great success and received an enthusiastic response from students and faculty. Of course, not everything should be judged by numbers. Quality of attendance is more important than quantity. We must also remember that many people had other commitments. What is important is the broader social cause. We hope that other law schools in India will now follow. 🇵🇸✌️