Why I don't feel safe at Cidi events

According to the Utrecht University of Applied Sciences (HU), it was necessary to postpone a series of lectures about the Holocaust organised by Cidi, the Centre for Information and Documentation on Israel, "because the safety of speakers, students, lecturers and visitors cannot be guaranteed". Cidi deems the postponement "yet another example of harassment and threats paying off.”

As a lecturer, I too believe that safety on campus is of the utmost importance. Unfortunately, I cannot feel safe at an event organised by Cidi.

Left antisemitism
In 2017, I saw an announcement for a meeting organised by Cidi at Uilenburger Sjoel, Amsterdam, with the British sociologist David Hirsh as a guest speaker, titled "Anti-Zionism, the new antisemitism?". When I was still teaching in England, I had regular run-ins with Hirsh. As an activist in the UCU trade union, I frequently proposed motions in support of the academic boycott of Israel, while Hirsh was the co-founder of a campaign against the boycott. So, I was curious to know what he was going to say about anti-Zionism and "left antisemitism", the subject of his new book.  I registered to attend, along with my fellow activist Sonja Zimmerman, who was the chair of DocP (Palestine Services and Research Center Foundation, nowadays called BDS Nederland) at the time.

Hirsh's speech (in English) was largely as we had expected: he had plenty to say about the IHRA working definition of antisemitism and how useful and important he considered it to be. I didn't agree with him, and so during the question-and-answer session which followed, I got up and explained how the "IHRA definition" was being used to curtail freedom of expression in universities in the UK, including the cancellation of a meeting on campus.

Offensive language
I was allowed to make my point without interruption. However, when I returned to my seat, the bloke sitting behind me began to harass me with sexist and racist abuse. He whispered in my ear: "Stop sucking n***** dick". Later, when Sonja asked a question, he started up again with his fantasies about our supposed enthusiasm for inter-racial fellatio, with a series of offensive terms for various ethnic groups.

He called Sonja a racist and asked her: "You come from a nazi family or something?" When Sonja replied that her name was Jewish, he retorted: "You're a kike. Jewish [sic] for Hitler."

So, we were subjected to racist, sexist and even antisemitic abuse - in a synagogue. You couldn't make it up.

Reaction after six months
I realise that the organisers of a meeting cannot be held responsible for everything that happens there, but they can be expected to respond to a complaint afterwards. Sonja and I wrote a letter to Cidi's Board of Governors. We offered to make our recordings available so that Cidi could identify the offender. We anticipated that this wouldn't be difficult, given that everyone who wanted to attend the lecture had to sign up in advance or provide their ID at the entrance. We asked Cidi to exclude the man from further Cidi events and, if he was a member, to terminate his Cidi membership.

Cidi's response - six months later - was disappointing: its director at that time, Hanna Luden, considered our experiences "exceptionally unpleasant" but said: "Unfortunately, we cannot help you with tracing this man. And seeing that Cidi does not have any members, we would not be able to cancel his membership."  To be honest, we felt this was a lame excuse: Cidi does have "Friends", but I don't think they wanted to know whether this man was one of them.

Not welcome anymore
Luden ended with: "You are welcome to share your recordings with the police and lodge a complaint with them, of course." We decided that if anything similar were to happen during a future Cidi meeting, we would do exactly that. Unfortunately, we never got the chance. When in October 2018 we tried to sign up for a talk by the controversial blogger David Collier, we both received a message from Luden: "This meeting is aimed at people who think BDS is a bad thing. Considering your support for BDS, you do not belong to the target group."

OK, that all happened six years or so ago. Has Cidi got any better since then? Actually no, considering that Cidi’s Aline Pennewaard calls the people who complained about the lecture series "antisemitic scum". I still do not feel either safe or welcome at CIDI events. Does HU want to expose its students to this kind of toxic speech?

Cidi's response
This is an incident that took place over six years ago. As described, the then-director provided assistance and advice to the complainants. We regret this incident, of course, as it is not what we stand for - and we told Ms Blackwell so at the time. This is a standalone incident and has no further relevance to the current lecture series at the Utrecht University of Applied Sciences. In principle, everyone is always welcome to join our activities. Blackwell did register for a subsequent Cidi event after the 2017 incident, so we have our doubts about the level of insecurity she says she has experienced. It seems that this incident is being evoked six years later with the main purpose of portraying Cidi negatively.