7 May 2024

On May 6, hundreds of students and staff gathered on the lawn of the Roeterseiland in a non-violent protest against Israel’s relentless assault on Palestinian life and UvA's institutional complicity in Israel's ongoing genocide. In the early hours (3 am) of May 7, at the order of the university's administration [CvB], riot police violently arrested, beat, and bulldozed over 150 students and staff. Some are still detained. Some have been wounded to the point of losing consciousness. The scenes are reminiscent of the bulldozers driving over the rubble of Palestinian homes. They are also stark reminders of institutional crackdown on students protesting in non-violent gatherings across university campuses for the Palestinians' right to life and dignity.

As employees at the University of Amsterdam, we are shocked and horrified by the College van Bestuurs’ decision to order the police to violently evict a non-violent protest camp and violate our freedom of expression. Even before the brutal institutional crackdown by the riot police, in the afternoon of 6 May the camp was besieged by masked, extreme right-wing forces. They carried Israeli flags and fire torches, and attempted to incinerate the camp and the protestors under the watchful eye of the CvB. We are in awe of the courage our students have in the face of such institutional violence. We are writing to assert our unflinching support of our students and the academic community to protest against institutional and structural complicity in the genocide against Palestinians.

They had asked the university to

1. Fully comply with the Freedom of Information case, i.e. disclose the university’s ties with Israeli institutions and companies, including educational institutions, as well as companies that profit from genocide, apartheid, and the exploitation of the Palestinian people and their land

2. Cease all academic collaborations with Israeli institutions that participate in genocide, apartheid, and settler colonial violence.

3. Cease all contracts with and divest from Israeli companies, and international companies/funds that profit from genocide, apartheid, and exploitation of the Palestinian people and their land.

4. Ensure all legal charges are dropped and full amnesty granted.

Simply: disclose, cut ties, divest and drop charges.

This morning, as the camp was being evicted by force by Dutch police, the Israeli Army began its ground invasion of Rafah where over 1.5 million Palestinians have sought refuge. To date, all universities in Gaza have been destroyed and Palestinian students and staff have been deliberately murdered by the Israeli Army. Israel has massacred over 40.000 Palestinians; displaced 1.5 million in Gaza; killed, tortured and arrested Palestinians across historic Palestine; is starving the population; and has destroyed hospitals, schools, humanitarian aid convoys with impunity. Israel continues to disregard the Provisional Measures ordered by the International Court of Justice to prevent “plausible genocide”.

All universities in Israel are complicit in Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian lands, the displacement and genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, and the repression of Palestinian academic freedom. We demand that the UvA acknowledge and address its complicity in the genocidal violence, and engage seriously with demands to divest from Israeli and international companies and institutions that are complicit in apartheid, genocide and settler colonialism.

Beyond the demands issued by the students, we denounce the CvB’s assault on academic freedom, the freedom of expression, and the freedom of assembly. This must stop! We must defend our right to protest and the academic freedom for critical resistance. No matter where you stand on the matter, join us in solidarity to protect the freedom of speech, expression and protest on campus.

In solidarity with Palestine and in solidarity with students and staff who have been brutalized by police violence we call on the academic community to:

1. Cancel your classes today

2. Walk out to support and protect our students.

3. Walk out and join staff who will be assembling in solidarity at 4pm at the site of the Roeterseiland Encampment.

4. Join the General Assembly at 6pm at the Encampment to decide on how we go forward as an academic community after this clear breach and breaking of trust between administration and the academic community..

5. Keep your eyes on Rafah, where the Israeli Occupying Forces have now taken over the Rafah Border Crossing. They have now sealed Palestinians' last outlet for survival.

Share this call with as many colleagues as you can.

Signed,

UvA scholars and staff for Palestine