Radboud should boycott Israeli universities. Here’s why and what we can do about it.

Raffia

In the context of Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people, it is more important than ever now to keep talking about Palestine. Even more so – to stop being complicit in the genocide of Palestinian peoples. Hence, this article aims to analyse the role of Radboud University in this context. This analysis is largely inspired by the activism of the group Utrecht in Solidarity with Palestine[1] and the ANS piece “Radboud, cut your ties with Israeli universities” authored by Nijmegen for Palestine[2].

As stated by Radboud’s Situating Palestine collective in another article[3], the scale of casualties surpasses that of any recent major armed conflict. Approximately 1.9 million Gazans have been forced to leave their homes, with 70% of residences either destroyed or damaged. Additionally, 90% of Gaza’s population is at risk of famine. The healthcare system in Gaza has crumbled, as only 9 out of 36 hospitals are partially operational. Israel is systematically dismantling the essential infrastructure for sustaining life, while government officials and settlement companies openly discuss plans to repopulate Gaza with Israeli settlers.

Like many other activists[4], we, and by “we” I mean students and staff of Radboud University, maintain that Israeli universities are fundamentally complicit in Israel’s militaristic, settler colonial, apartheid regime. Hence, the importance of raising our voices against such complicity and cutting all types of collaboration with Israeli academic institutions until there is a permanent ceasefire in Palestine and an end to the Israeli occupation.

We urge students and staff to support a university-wide petition consisting of four specific demands which can be found here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfM4n8Nr8r3V3UPMIQkaSRzOpqLdrjY-Dz_4Xbj1LiZATbmGQ/viewform.

Islamophobia, racism against Palestinian people, Anti-Semitism, and (anti-) Zionism

In the context of the ongoing conflation of anti-Semitism and antizionism[5] it is important to begin this article by explicitly condemning Islamophobia, racism against Palestinian people anti-Semitism, and all other forms of racism. Antisemitism, Islamophobia and racism against Palestinian people are on currently the rise and should be actively resisted. It is also important to note that Anti-Semitism (discrimination against Jewish people) and anti-Zionism (opposing the Zionist ideal of forming & maintaining a “Jewish state”) have become more and more conflated, especially in the Western hegemonic discourse. Take, for example, the widely recognised definition of anti-Semitism developed by IHRA which includes: “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour.”[6]

by Rami Gzon via Unsplash

The abovementioned conflation dangerously blurs the line between racism against Jewish people and any criticism of Zionism[7]. This prevents us from addressing Israel’s settler colonialism and its genocidal violence against Palestinians[8].

In fact, it is quite the opposite. The fight against antisemitism implies the fight against all racialisation and oppression, including the settler colonial state of Israel. “Never again” means never again for anyone! As Yuval-Davis brilliantly reminds us, dismantling and decolonising the Zionist Israeli state is not “an antisemitic genocidal annihilation of the Jews, just as the dismantling of the South African apartheid state was not genocidal to White South Africans”[9].

Radboud’s ties with Israeli academic institutions

In light of this perspective, it is pertinent to examine some of the agreements Radboud has entered into with academic institutions such as the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University. An important caveat is that this information is not exhaustive and was revealed to the public in January 2022 when a Woo information request was made – which means that any agreements made after that currently remain unknown.

Importantly, Radboud has signed two agreements with both the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv universities, which particularly stand out. Firstly, there is the Erasmus+ Inter-institutional agreement which aims for cooperation and exchange of students and/or staff in the context of the Erasmus+ programme and access to funds allocated through Erasmus+. Secondly, there is the Memorandum of Understanding which is an agreement to “promote understanding and goodwill, to strengthen cultural ties, to broaden student and faculty experience and horizons”. For example, in the case of Tel Aviv University, this implies aiming to co-organise conferences, summer schools and workshops with Radboud; exchanging of publications in central libraries; collaborating in joint research projects; raising funds and using existing financial sources provided by bilateral governmental agreements and exchange programs as much as possible.

Here is a summary of more agreements that Radboud has signed with Israeli academic institutions.

Hebrew university of Jerusalem:

  • Erasmus+ Inter-institutional agreement, since 2015 (currently frozen): Cooperation for the exchange of students and/or staff in the context of the Erasmus+ programme; transparent management of funds that are allocated through Erasmus+
  • Memorandum of understanding (and subsequent renewals, current one valid until 2025)
  • Consortium Agreement – Horizon 2020 – EpiSyStem- The Hebrew University Of Jerusalem (started in 2013): https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/765966

Tel Aviv University:

  • Erasmus+ Inter-institutional agreement, since 2019 (currently frozen): Cooperation for the exchange of students and/or staff in the context of the Erasmus+ programme; transparent management of funds that are allocated through Erasmus+
  • Memorandum of understanding between Radboud University and Tel Aviv University, 2016 (and subsequent renewals, current one valid until 2025): promotes understanding and goodwill, strengthens cultural ties; deepens collaboration for mutual benefit and full reciprocity; support and sponsor joint research projects in areas where their interests correspond; exchange of publications in central libraries; joint activity to raise funds, “will try to use existing financial sources such as bilateral governmental agreements and exchange programs”.
  • Agreement of cooperation, 2020: promote interest in teaching and research and deepen understanding of economic, social and cultural issues and traditions of respective countries; promote exchanges, joint conferences and research programs; exchange of information regarding developments in teaching and research at each university, “do everything possible to secure funds necessary for cooperation from third parties, such as foundations, organizations, and donors”
  • Material transfer agreement, concluded in 2020: Tel Aviv University and “investigator” agree to provide Radboud with principal offices at Heyendaalseweg 135 on behalf of “investigator” professor (name blurred out); reason – material use for a research project of a “Scientist and his/her research team”; material – cell line; project – setting up new mass spectrometry techniques to study proteomes
  • Consortium Agreement – EJPRD JTC 2020 – AAK INSIGHT – Tel Aviv University (started at 2021): https://www.aniridia.eu/2022/01/03/updates-about-aak-insight-project/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=updates-about-aak-insight-project

Others:

What is more: why aren’t there any partnerships with Palestinian universities? What knowledges are being silenced as we speak, especially in the context of an ongoing scholasticide[10]? Some questions themselves speak volumes…

All in all, in considering these current collaborations with Israeli universities, it becomes urgent to delve into the significance of boycotts and why they hold importance in this context.

What are boycotts and why do they matter?

To begin with, one of the largest globally aimed and peaceful movements against the Israeli state is the BDS movement (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions)[11]. This is a Palestinian-led movement for freedom, justice, and equality: it is an “inclusive, anti-racist human rights movement that is opposed on principle to all forms of discrimination, including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia”.

Picture 1: Detailed description of forms of activism that include Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions [9].

The movement puts non-violent pressure on Israel so that it complies with international law. That means that Israel should meet the following three demands:

1. Ending its occupation and colonisation of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall;

2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality;

3. Respecting, protecting, and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194.

Importantly, the goals of BDS include various types of boycotts – consumer, cultural, academic and more. The focus here, however, is on academic boycotts since they concern us as students and staff of Radboud University.

Academic boycotts

An academic boycott means cutting ties with Israeli academic institutions that are complicit in the genocidal violence against Palestinians[12]. Crucially, the targets are complicit academic institutions and not, for example, non-complicit individual academics. As established by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), the goals of academic boycotts are to 1) force complicit academic institutions to recognise the human rights of Palestinian peoples and 2) to put an end to their complicity with Israel’s violation of international law. This is especially relevant now, after the International Court of Justice has ruled that there is a “plausible case” of Israel committing a genocide in Gaza.[13]

The complicity of Israeli universities

To truly grasp why academic boycotts matter, we first need to understand how Israeli academic institutions are complicit in the genocide of Palestinians. Importantly, such institutions train future administrators, managers, researchers, specialists, and lawyers who maintain the Israeli status quo[14]. Universities also provide the ideological and legal justification for Israel’s continuing violence. One striking example is the “Dahiya Doctrine”[15], a military strategy of asymmetric welfare which is ultimately an “explicit outline of collective punishment and probable war crimes” (my emphasis)[16]. To exemplify, after annihilating an entire southern suburb of Beirut in 2006, Maj. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot proclaimed that:

“What happened in the Dahiya quarter of Beirut in 2006 will happen in every village from which Israel is fired on… We will apply disproportionate force on it and cause great damage and destruction there. From our standpoint, these are not civilian villages, they are military bases…” (my emphasis).

Tel Aviv University is currently supporting the genocide of the Palestinians, too. The university has implemented a hasbara course for international students, aimed to “explain” and justify Israel’s genocide [17]. The university has also proudly highlighted its role in shaping Israel’s propaganda, which includes supporting the country’s position before the International Court of Justice [18]. Furthermore, it has engaged in crowdfunding efforts to provide “care” packages for soldiers involved in the genocide in Gaza [19].

Hebrew University is complicit in the ongoing genocide, as well. The university proudly acknowledges its contribution to the Israeli military by providing “diverse logistics equipment” to multiple military units [20]. Following the pattern observed in many Israeli universities, Hebrew University swiftly implemented an “Enhanced Financial Package” (which also includes academic benefits) tailored for student soldiers actively involved in the genocide in Gaza [21]. 

Here are other examples [22] of the direct complicity of Hebrew University Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University with the Israeli settler colonial state. It is not claimed that this list is exhaustive! Nevertheless, a very good sense of what academic institutional complicity truly means:

1. Those universities are deeply involved in the Israeli Armed Forces.

Federmann, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Elbit (a military technology company, main provider of the Israeli military’s land-based equipment & drones) is also a member of the Board of Governors of Hebrew University. This indicates the deep involvement of this academic institute with weapons research companies (Keller 2009, 11). Another example is Tel Aviv University’s collaboration with the Israeli army on 55 joint technological projects, especially in the field of electro-optics (ibid 9). The university also hosts a convention about weapons development for the Israeli army (ibid 41).

2. They support Israeli Soldiers and Discrimination against Palestinian Students.

Hebrew University has offered a scholarship of NIS 1,500 (EURO 300) for students who reserve duty in combat units for more than three weeks during the 2002 operation “Defensive Shield” (ibid 13). Science students who are part of the joint Military-Hebrew University “Talpiot” program[18] and later become part of the army’s research & development units, wear uniforms during their studies and reside in an army base located on the university’s campus. (ibid 14) Hebrew University also organizes courses, classes and test dates exclusively for “Talpiot” student-soldiers. Lastly, it requires a police-issued “character reference” certificate from non-student Palestinian visitors on campus to “ensure they are not terrorists” (this is not required of Jewish visitors)[19].

3. They participate in Israeli Military Training.

Since 1969, the academic side of the Israeli Army’s Command and Staff College (PUM) was first under the charge of Tel-Aviv University and later under Hebrew University (ibid 17). The Israeli army has military colleges that, since 2005, are under the charge of Hebrew University and built on its campus.

4. They are directly involved in the Israeli Occupation.

Hebrew Univeristy has built settlements on Palestinian lands, specifically on the Palestinian villages of Lifta, al-Issawiya, and Wadi al-Joz. Student housing is located on French Hill, a settlement neighbourhood of Jerusalem (ibid 19). Tel Aviv University is built on the destroyed Palestinian village Skeikh Muwanis. This has never been acknowledged by Tel-Aviv University (ibid 19).

Silence = complicity

In the face of injustice, neutrality is an illusion and Radboud’s silence speaks volumes. This silence is especially shocking because Radboud has already enforced academic boycotts in the past, more specifically, of Russian academic institutions [25]. Radboud’s last academic boycott was swiftly implemented exactly eight days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and rightfully so! But it has now been more than 120 days of a full-blown genocide of Palestinians and inaction from Radboud which still has not established an academic boycott of Israeli universities. This is simply unacceptable and cannot, should not continue. We call for the immediate cutting of Radboud’s ties with Israeli academic institutions. 

We have a role to play. Sign the petition to urge Radboud to take action, now.

Bibliography

[1] https://allmylinks.com/utrechtinsolidaritywithpalestine.

[2]  https://ans-online.nl/artikelen/opinion-radboud-cut-your-ties-with-israeli-universities.

[3] https://ans-online.nl/artikelen/opinion-it-is-time-for-radboud-to-take-action-on-the-genocide-of-the-palestinians/.

[4] https://dub.uu.nl/en/opinion/ignoring-israeli-research-partners-complicity-human-rights-abuses.

[5] Such as in articles like those https://ans-online.nl/artikelen/opinion-irresponsible-to-use-terms-like-genocide-and-colonialism/.

[6] https://holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definition-antisemitism

[7] Yuval-Davis, N., 2007. Zionism, antisemitism and the struggle against racism. Soundings, (36), p.122.

[8] More on why there is a genocide happening in Palestine & why the current state of Israel is settler colonial:

https://bdsmovement.net/colonialism-and-apartheid/summary

https://jewishcurrents.org/a-textbook-case-of-genocide

[9] Yuval-Davis, N., 2007, ibid.

[10] What is more: why aren’t there any partnerships with Palestinian universities? What knowledges are being silenced as we speak, especially in the context of an ongoing scholasticide[10]? https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/24/how-israel-has-destroyed-gazas-schools-and-universities. 

[11] https://bdsmovement.net/what-is-bds; https://bdsmovement.net/pacbi/academic-boycott-guidelines

[12]  https://bdsmovement.net/pacbi/academic-boycott-guidelines.

https://bdsmovement.net/academic-boycott#tab1

[13] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/1/26/live-icj-to-issue-preliminary-ruling-in-south-africa-genocide-case-against-i

[14] https://dub.uu.nl/en/opinion/ignoring-israeli-research-partners-complicity-human-rights-abuses.

[15] https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/186668.

[16] Ibid.

[17] https://international.tau.ac.il/war-course

[18] https://international.tau.ac.il/court-justice

[19] https://international.tau.ac.il/lone-soldiers

[20] https://campaign.huji.ac.il/help-university-community

[21] https://en.huji.ac.il/news/enhanced-financial-package-our-students-serving-idf?ref_tid=16558

Published by Raffia

Leave a comment