This continues our series examining rising antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment on college campuses (see here, here, here, here, here and here).
It was an email that should have raised concerns among the university administrators in the Netherlands who received it: a demand from a pro-Palestinian group with possible terrorism ties that they reveal the details of interactions, including those of their faculty members, with a long list of Jewish and Israel-related organizations.
The request to 14 publicly-funded institutions that are part of Universities of the Netherlands, which was made under the Netherlands’ 1991 freedom of information law, was submitted by The Rights Forum, which campaigns in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, and has previously lobbied for the release from jail of senior Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) member Khalida Jarrar, who was most recently arrested in 2019, following the terror attack that claimed the life of 17-year-old Israeli Rina Shnerb.
According to revelations in the Dutch publication, the New Israelite Weekly (NIW), the request — known as a WOB — was filed under the name of the Rights Forum’s director, Gerard Jonkman, and insisted that the universities in question hand over “documents or information about the institutional ties… [they may maintain] with Israeli universities, institutions and companies, as well as organizations that propagate support for the State of Israel” over the last several years.
Detailed in the submission was a list of various Israeli institutions and companies, including Israel’s Ministries of Defense, Foreign Affairs and Education, as well as firms such as IBM Israel – Science and Technology LTD and Israel Aircraft Industries. Also included were a number of Jewish organizations that do not identify themselves as being focused on issues pertaining to Israel, like the Dutch Central Jewish Board, the National Coordinator for Combating Antisemitism, the EU Coordinator on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life and the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
The move by the Rights Forum elicited the following response from Dutch Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs: “The clear inference is that some shadowy Zionist/Jewish cabal is operating in the Dutch university system. This reeks of antisemitism, but it comes as no surprise to me given this group’s reputation,” he said.
It is important to note that under Dutch law, not all freedom of information requests must be fulfilled. Indeed, the business consulting body, the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, advises that in “some cases your [freedom of information] request may be rejected, for instance for security reasons or if it concerns confidential data related to people or companies. Public authorities may refuse a request for information which is manifestly unreasonable.”
Yet, rather than immediately question whether divulging such information was appropriate or even legally permissible, some university administrators are said to have straight away started forwarding on details of the request to staff, including some Jewish employees.
Indeed, such was the intimidating nature of the request, that one university employee, who was quoted by NIW, asked: “What is the next step? That Jews in universities should all wear a yellow star?”
The reference is to the symbol the Nazis forced Jews to wear in order to identify them.
On the same day that NIW published its report, representatives from the VVD party and the Christian Union party, which are both part of the governing four-party coalition in the Netherlands, submitted parliamentary questions to the Minister of Justice Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius (VVD).
The questions specifically asked that the minister intervene to instruct the universities to disregard the request, in addition to contacting The Rights Forum with the aim of putting an end to its inquiry about “contacts with Jews.”
The Rights Forum, for its part, has gone on the offensive, publishing an article on its website in which it claimed, without a shred of evidence, that its request was made on behalf of a group of academics and students who feared damage to their careers because universities are not a “safe environment” because “Israel-critical activities” are not tolerated.
The Rights Forum then accuses those who have condemned its actions of mounting a “smear” campaign:
This week it became fully clear how justified the fears of academics and students were. Our Wob request was leaked by an employee of one of the universities to pro-Israel organizations and (directly or indirectly) to the Telegraaf [newspaper] — a course of action that underlines the insecurity experienced by the drafters and should be investigated by the universities. In no time, a smear campaign was launched in which The Rights Forum is accused of antisemitism.”
However, a brief search into the background of the group includes the following salient details as documented by Israel-based watchdog NGO Monitor:
- The group’s founder and honorary chairman is the former prime minister of the Netherlands Andreas van Agt, who once claimed that “Europe owes a special debt to the Palestinians because they are the victims of victims of the Holocaust.” Van Agt also labeled the European and Dutch boycott of Hamas, “wrong and even stupid.”
- In 2020, it spread a debunked conspiracy that a Palestinian medic Razan Najjar had been murdered by an Israeli sniper.
- In 2017, the group suggested the international community does not care about the “suffering” of Palestinians in Gaza because it is “finally empty of Jews.”
- It hit out at the European Parliament’s support of the adoption of the IHRA’s working definition of antisemitism on the grounds it “threatens freedom of expression.”
- In 2019, the group joined forces with the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO), an umbrella organization of 142 Palestinian NGOs, many of which have alleged ties to the PFLP.
- In 2010, one of the organization’s board members, Liesbeth Zegveld, filed a criminal complaint against a Dutch company on behalf of Palestinian NGO Al-Haq, alleging the firm was complicit in the “commission of war crimes” in reference to the construction of Jewish communities in the West Bank. Al-Haq was among a number of Palestinian NGOs that were proscribed by Israel last year over their links to the PFLP. Last month, the European Commission suspended EU funding to Al-Haq.
Just 24 hours after the parliamentary questions were submitted, the Universities of the Netherlands released a statement that appeared to row back on the universities’ original decisions to comply with the request:
All fourteen universities that are affiliated with Universities of the Netherlands have received a Wob request from The Rights Forum regarding ‘the institutional links of the universities with Israeli universities, institutions and companies and with organizations that promote support for the state of Israel’. Questions and concerns have arisen in response to this Wob request. In order to handle this request, all universities that fall under the Wob request a postponement from the submitter for the processing of this request.” [emphasis added]
While this is a step in the right direction, the entire ordeal should perhaps come as little surprise given that over the last few months, several articles have been published about antisemitism in Dutch universities.
In December, a Dutch website that covers Israeli news published an exposé on antisemitism at Leiden University. The article included a link to a video of a university teacher who was caught on tape singing, “Oh Qassam [rocket], Oh friend, strike, strike Tel Aviv.” Leiden University’s diversity officer failed to respond even after a letter of protest was submitted by Jewish students.
At Maastricht University, Jewish students were reportedly threatened by fellow students. When a Jewish student complained to faculty staff, she was allegedly told that she was “asking for it.” Such was the ugliness of this incident that it prompted several lawmakers to ask what the government proposed to do to combat the rising tide of antisemitism on Dutch campuses.
The apparent willingness – at least, initially, – by Dutch universities to fulfill the Rights Forum’s request is worrying and such universities should be reminded of their duty to protect staff and students.
We must also wonder why the Rights Forum wanted this information and whether, given the group’s history, it might be prudent for the Dutch Justice Minister to launch an investigation into the organization to ensure it is complying with counter-terrorism laws, specifically as they pertain to its apparent indirect ties with the PFLP, which has been designated a terrorist group by the European Union.
We urge our readers to contact the government of the Netherlands to suggest that a probe be launched into The Rights Forum’s possible ties to Palestinian terrorist groups.
