In a historic show of unity, Western Sydney University students voted unanimously on August 21, 2025, to pass a pro-Palestine motion demanding the university sever research links with Syqe Medical, lift the suspensions of student protesters, halt staff job cuts, and support sanctions on Israel. Léane Debize takes a deeper dive into the motion’s second demand, which calls on WSU to cut ties with Syqe Medical, an Israeli company that supplies the IDF.
What is a Student General Meeting?
A Student General Meeting (SGM) is a democratic process allowing the student body to vote on motions to become official Student Representative Council (SRC) policy. To call an SGM, a motion must be proposed by a student and accompanied by the names, signatures and student ID’s of at least 200 (two hundred) enrolled students, as outlined in the Student Representation and Participation Procedures, pages 21–22.
Quorum for a General Meeting of Students of the SRC is 100 (one hundred) students, and motions must receive majority to pass.
WSU 4 Palestine (@wsu4palestine) requested to hold a SGM meeting on August 21st at 5:30PM to pass a motion regarding the University’s ties to Israel. In an Instagram post, WSU 4 Palestine explains the motions’ four main elements:
● Full sanctions on Israel- militarily, economically, and politically.
● End Western’s partnership with Syqe Medical.
● Lift the suspensions on students who protested for Palestine in October 2024.
● Stop job cuts at the University.
An SGM gives students an opportunity to share their opinions and have their voices heard by the SRC as well as Western Sydney University’s administration.
Severing ties with Syqe Medical
Western faces growing pressure from students and healthcare professionals to cut ties with Syqe Medical. Syqe Medical is an Israeli medical cannabis company with technology to administer medical cannabis through inhalation. Syqe Medical has an agreement with the Israeli Ministry of Defence entailing it provides medical cannabis inhalers to the Israeli Defence Force (IDF).
In 2023, Hagit Kamin, CEO of SyqeAir, said to PR Newswire the company was proud of the strategic partnership with the IDF and the opportunity to deliver SyqeAir inhaler technologies to veterans seeking medicinal cannabis treatment.
Syqe Medical is sponsoring a global clinical trial testing its Syqe Fixed-dose Inhaler, a vape-like device that delivers precise doses of cannabis aerosol to treat diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain. Western Sydney University participant Information sheet for the trial, clearly states Syqe as the project’s global sponsor.
Western Sydney University’s National Institute of Complimentary Medicine (NICM) is acting as a Syqe trial site, recruiting participants and conducting study procedures at its Westmead facility.
The Participant Information Sheet and Consent Form for the trial shows NICM’s work directly links to Syqe’s commercial pipeline. Page 17 states Syqe “may benefit financially from this research project,” particularly if it assists the company to obtain regulatory approval for new treatment, and that participants’ blood, tissue, or data may be provided to Syqe, which “may directly or indirectly benefit financially” from their analysis.
Students say Western’s involvement in the trial amounts to complicity in genocide. WSU 4 Palestine student member Jasmin Ahmed says the partnership is symbolic of more than just research.
‘Syqe has an agreement with a military that has destroyed all hospitals in Gaza and is now starving children. Collaborating with them undermines WSU’s commitment to justice and health’. Students have protested the University’s involvement in Syqe’s clinical trial multiple times in 2025.
Students and health workers protest at Western’s NICM Health Research Institute. Photo credit: Jordan Pardoel, 2025.
“We Will Continue Our Involvement”: WSU Defends the Partnership
On 10th March 2025, Greens MP Abigail Boyd questioned Vice Chancellor George Williams at Budget Estimates about the University’s research relationship with Syqe Medical (pg.73).
Western issued a formal statement on 18th March 2025, confirming Syqe Medical as the international sponsor. Western also stated ‘NICM has no involvement in the development or oversight of the broader international study’, and that the University ‘will continue [its] involvement in the study’.
The Current Situation in Gaza
On 3rd July 2025, Amnesty International published findings on Israel’s use of starvation as a war weaponwar. Secretary General Agnès Callamard described Israel’s actions as creating ’a deadly mix of hunger and disease’ that has pushed the population ’past breaking point’. She added ’Israeli authorities have turned aid-seeking into a booby trap for desperate starved Palestinians’.
Students have expressed deep frustration at Western’s ongoing partnership. Ahmed alleges Western’s Vice Chancellor has ignored the calls of over 1000 student and staff signatories on WSU4P’s petition demanding Western cut ties to the project. ‘That is why we are calling this Student General Meeting, to make our voices louder’, said Ahmed.
You can see full motion here.
