A spokesperson for Eindhoven Students4Palestine, present under the campaign name AA, explains why the group is standing in front of the Thales booth. “Thales is a company that has developed armed drones. Their latest drone, the Watchkeeper X - developed together with Elbit - can also carry weapons and is based on the Hermes 450 that has been used in Gaza. Hosting a company like this here isn’t a good thing,” he says. Thales was also under flack for the same reason at the beginning of 2024, when activists campaigned at various Thales offices.

According to Frans Raaijmakers, spokesperson for TU/e, the worldwide collaborations that the university enters into always aim to make the world a better place. “After all, we want to contribute to safety, not to escalation. With regard to any ‘dual use’ knowledge, we adhere to existing guidelines, such as the national knowledge security guidelines. In addition, within the framework of 4TU, the four technical universities of the Netherlands, we’ll be organizing a moral debate on the collaboration with the Ministry of Defense.”

University Rebellion (UR) joined forces with EindhovenStudents4Palestine during the protest. “We’re here because we have common goals. Climate issues and war – in this case genocide – are connected,” spokesperson Magdalena Skoda (student Sustainable Innovation) explains.

TU/e indicates it appreciates the social engagement of our students and other members of the community. “As TU/e, we provide space for protests like these – given that the right to protest is a fundamental right – as long as safety remains guaranteed for everyone.”

In the past, UR has regularly protested the university’s ties to the fossil industry, for example with respect to scientific collaboration, but also here at the Career Expo. The fact that the university wants to keep its lines of communication open with the fossil industry is unacceptable to University Rebellion.

Unauthorized

According to TU/e spokesperson Raaijmakers, the university is fully committed to sustainability. “Collaboration with all parties is necessary to accelerate sustainable change. We can’t afford to exclude strong research and development parties.”

Nevertheless, some changes have been made when it comes to choosing new partners. “We decided in 2022 that new partnerships between TU/e and such companies would only relate to projects that contribute to sustainable energy and sustainability,” says Raaijmakers.

Thales wasn’t available to comment and stayed away from the booth until further notice. This caused the protesters to stay longer than originally planned.