Gaza continues to be reason for unrest at universities

Two weeks ago, the Dutch Minister of Education, Gouke Moes, said that the outspoken pro-Palestinian lecturer Harry Pettit should be reported. A petition is now calling for the suspension of the lecturer at the University of Nijmegen. Almost 19,000 people have signed it so far.

Pettit is controversial because he believes that the state of Israel should be taken off the map. He does not recognise the country and wrote that it is ‘time to finish what the Palestinians started on October 7’ and to ‘continue until the “settlement colony” is dismantled’.

Radboud student Milos Boksan, a municipal councillor for VVD, sees this as a potentially criminal incitement to violence. He is asking the Nijmegen board of directors to distance themselves from Pettit's statements, report him to the police and suspend him.

Demonstration against the professor
In Rotterdam, a law professor no longer dares to appear on campus after a pro-Palestinian PhD student complained about her tweets. She allegedly retweeted a message in which Palestinians were referred to as “bloodthirsty Nazi-Arab jihadists” in response to October 7, Erasmus Magazine reports.

The PhD student therefore requested a different supervisor, but the request was rejected. Mediation talks also failed to produce a solution. The undesirable behaviour committee ultimately declared the complaints unfounded. As of August 31, he has lost his PhD position at Erasmus University.

His supporters will demonstrate against the pro-Israeli professor on Tuesday. Erasmus University is not happy about this, but cannot prohibit it. ‘We respect the freedom to demonstrate, but we disapprove of protests directed against a single person,’ the university states.

Scientist not welcome
Meanwhile, Israeli scientist Eva Illouz is no longer welcome at Erasmus University. The sociologist was supposed to give a lecture for the “Love Lab”, a university study centre on relationships and emotions, but has now been told that the organising team felt “uncomfortable”.

In June, Erasmus University decided to suspend its institutional collaboration with Hebrew University, where Illouz is a professor. However, individual contacts were permitted, so her visit would still fall within the university's guidelines.