Today - March 12 - has been declared a national day of action for Gaza by Dutch Scholars for Palestine (DSP). About 25 protestors from Eindhoven4palestine and University Rebellion responded to this today at TU/e. They gathered with their student coalition at the Spar from where they walked across campus to Atlas and MetaForum to hand out flyers during the lunch break. The distribution took a while due to some logistical problems getting the flyers to campus, but in the end they managed and it all went smoothly.

Irene (full name known to the editors), a PhD student present at the protest, is not happy with the double standard she notices at the university: “Over the last months we haven’t seen any statements of the university to advocate against the war, in stark contrast with its reaction to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, when the university issued a strong statement rejecting the war, immediately suspended all collaborations with Russian universities and institutes as a means of pressuring for peace, and promoted several initiatives in support of the students and staff affected.”

Take measures against genocide

Many protesters are deeply concerned about the situation in Palestine and alarmed by the lack of response from the university and national government to the violence. Irene stresses the ICJ ruling: ‘The ICJ found it plausible that Israel’s acts in Gaza could amount to genocide and issued six provisional measures, ordering Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent genocidal acts, including preventing and punishing incitement to genocide, ensuring aid and services reach Palestinians under siege in Gaza, and preserving evidence of crimes committed in Gaza’.

So far, all major international human rights organizations who are active in Gaza are warning that Israel is failing to comply with these measures, in particular by not allowing sufficient aid into Gaza, and there are already reports of deaths caused by starvation. “The Netherlands, as a UN member state, is not doing enough to pressure Israel to comply with the measures,” Irene says.

TU/e in collaboration with arms supplier

Recently, TU/e has participated in at least one project – the MAAXIMUS project - where a major Israeli arms company, IAI, was a partner. ‘Stop arms trade’ also reported on this. “As a university we have the responsibility to stand for human rights, especially when violations are coming from a country with which we have working relations,” Irene stresses. “And as a technical university, which research often has potential military application, we should be even more careful in reviewing our collaborations.”

Investments of pension money in illegal Israeli settlements

Irene sees the leverage of the university and hopes that the TU/e will use that power to put pressure on the ABP pension fund (the pension fund of all universities) to stop investing in illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine. ”One of the main obstacles to peace in the region.”

Irene says she has also shared her concerns with the TU/e. Cursor has also requested a response from the TU/e board on the wish for support for Palestinian students and employees, as well as a response on the collaboration with the Israeli arms supplier IAI and on whether and how collaborations are assessed. If we receive a response, we will add it here as soon as possible.

Editor's note: The main photo shows only some of the protesters. Not everyone felt safe enough to have their photo taken in a recognizable manner, partly due to countries where the keffiyeh (Palestinian scarf) is not tolerated and/or unpleasant reactions from counter-protesters they have experienced.