A group of twelve prominent Dutch experts in the areas of ethics, international law, academic freedom, international cooperation, and Palestine / Israel has published a report calling for the suspension of all institutional ties between Dutch and Israeli universities.
Several Dutch universities in the last months suspended or froze specific cooperations with Israeli universities because of the risk of their involvement in serious human rights abuses. This happened as the result of reports of internal committees of these universities. The twelve authors of the report published today came together on their own accord, out of dissatisfaction with the case-by-case approach of the universities and the lack of transparency and relevant expertise within some of the committees. The authors of the committee, mostly professors or associate professors in a directly relevant topic in one of the Dutch Universities, argue that what university boards have done so far constitutes “only a fraction of what needs to be done in the face of complicity with genocide”.
In short chapters, the experts explain why Israeli universities are complicit with the actions of the Israeli state; what complicity means in moral and juridical terms; why complicity is not only relevant for projects with direct military or dual use applications but for all institutional cooperations; how cutting ties is related to themes like academic freedom and neutrality, and why suspending institutional ties does not have to harm cooperation with individual researchers at Israeli universities. Thus, the report offers concrete guidance to University Boards and the academic community at large.
Since October 2023, students and staff at Dutch universities have repeatedly called for cutting the ties to Israeli universities. They pointed out the risk of complicity with the actions of the Israeli state in Gaza (and the West Bank). Many experts, human rights organizations, and (international) official bodies characterize these actions as genocidal violence.
The authors of the report are Dr. Siobhan Airey (Erasmus University Rotterdam), Prof. dr. Miriyam Aouragh (University of Westminster / Oxford University), Prof. dr. Francesco Battaglia, Radboud University, Nijmegen), Prof. dr. Sarah Bracke (University of Amsterdam), Prof. dr. Pepijn Brandon (VU Amsterdam and IISH), Dr. Erella Grassiani (University of Amsterdam), Prof. dr. Yolande Jansen (University of Amsterdam and VU), Prof. Em. Dr. Annelies Moors (University of Amsterdam), Dr. Dana Mustafa (Erasmus University Rotterdam), Prof. dr. Filippo Santoni de Sio (TU Eindhoven), Dr. Anya Topolski (Radboud University, Nijmegen) and Dr. Federica Violi (Erasmus University, Rotterdam). More information about the composition and work process of the expert committee can be found here.