Since the terrorist attack on October 7, 2023, Freie Universität Berlin has expressed solidarity with the victims of the conflict in the Middle East, as well as its growing concern regarding subsequent developments in the region and their disastrous impacts on the civilian population.

In view of ongoing discourse on these issues, Freie Universität Berlin has been dedicated to upholding its founding principles of truth, freedom, and justice. We respect and value the plurality of voices and opinions held by members of our community and want to carve out a space where we can respectfully come together to discuss the complexities of the current situation in the Middle East. To this end, on December 5, 2023, the members of Freie Universität Berlin’s Executive Board sent an email message to everyone at our university, in which they emphasized the importance of upholding a campus culture founded on mutual respect, open dialogue, and responsibility. You can read the email message on the university website here.

With particular regard to recent protests on our university campus, we once again wish to clarify that while we strongly believe in freedom of speech and assembly, we do not – under any circumstances – tolerate antisemitism at Freie Universität Berlin, nor for any kind of discrimination based on a person’s nationality, ethnicity, religion, beliefs, social background, age, disability or health condition, gender, or sexual orientation, and are committed to tackling prejudice of this nature.

You can read the Executive Board’s previous statements here.

(Last updated: January 8, 2024)