Universities demand staff disclose ties to Jewish, Israeli groups – reports

The demand follows a freedom of information request filed with a dozen of Dutch universities by a group Jewish media called ‘anti-Israeli’

The administrations of about a dozen Dutch universities have reportedly demanded their staff hand over information on their relationships over the past 10 years with a long list of Jewish and Israeli institutions, following a request by a Netherlands-based NGO, the Rights Forum. The news was reported by the Dutch-Jewish media outlet NIW on Thursday. 

The request obtained and cited by the paper asks the academic institutions whether they would share documents and information about their dealings with various Jewish entities, including Israeli universities, institutions, and companies, as well as contacts with “organizations promoting support for the State of Israel,” NIW reported. 

The Rights Forum appeared to be particularly interested in student exchanges the Dutch universities had with Israeli educational institutions, but the list of Jewish organizations of concern did not stop at that. It also included the US-based Anti-Defamation League, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and even the Dutch government’s office of the National Coordinator for Fighting Antisemitism. 

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All the collected information, reportedly including email correspondence and contacts, should then be handed over to the Rights Forum, which NIW described as a “pro-Palestinian” and “anti-Israel” group that had been previously “accused of anti-Semitism.” 

The outlet admits that it is unclear if the universities had complied with the request and whether they would do that “in full.” It did say, however, that the directors of “a number of universities” forwarded the request to their employees without prior review by the legal department, arguing that they were “obliged” to do so by the law. Some universities refused to discuss the matter with employees. 

Under a 1991 Dutch law, anyone can submit a freedom of information request to make information on any “administrative matter” public. The law, which is designed to be a means of keeping government policies transparent, applies to the Dutch universities. 

The request sparked an uproar from various Jewish associations in the Netherlands and beyond. “This reeks of antisemitism, but it comes as no surprise to me given this group’s reputation,” Dutch Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs said. 

“What really concerns me is the number of universities that were so compliant with such a transparently antisemitic request. It reminds us that most mayors cooperated during the occupation to pass on the names of their Jewish citizens to the Germans,” he added. 

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The NIW, which broke the news, also called the development “frightening” as it pointed to the fact that organizations “fighting anti-Semitism” were described in the request as involved in the “systematic oppression, discrimination, dispossession and exclusion of Palestinians.” 

There has been no mention of the request on the Rights Forum’s website, nor has the group commented on the reports. It was founded by the former Dutch prime minister, Dries van Agt, back in 2009, and describes itself as a “knowledge center on the Palestine/Israel issue,” which is “committed to a just and sustainable Dutch and European policy with regard to the Palestine/Israel issue.”

It also says that the international community has so far failed to create conditions for a “just peace” and adds that the group seeks to “change that.” 

The Jerusalem Post described van Agt as a controversial figure, who compared Israel to Nazi Germany and argued that Jews should have been given a “piece of land” in Germany and not in Palestine.