‘We were exercising our fundamental right to demonstrate when, all of a sudden, a huge police presence showed up: dogs, a helicopter, an arrest unit. All I could think was: how much taxpayers’ money is being spent right now on students simply asking if we could please stop supporting genocide?’

Two weeks ago, student Isaac was demonstrating at the Wijnhaven building, along with Amit and Daniel*, against the university’s academic ties with Israel when police officers started beating them. Amit says his shoulder still hurts. Isaac shows a video of an officer repeatedly striking him and points to a broken bone he sustained.

All three of them were arrested. But despite all the opposition from the university, politicians and police, they say they remain steadfast in their convictions. In addition to the police violence, the university’s attitude also troubles the students. Not only, they say, does the Executive Board refuse to seriously address the demonstrators’ questions, but the university also uses the presence of Jewish students as an excuse for its strict security policy.

BOYCOTT

Isaac: ‘We want the university to impose an academic boycott on Israel. The reason why we, as students, are using these means – mobilising, disturbing and occupying – is because we see that the university is stalling for time.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, a boycott was imposed immediately. Ties were cut, institutional collaborations were terminated, and research was discontinued.

‘But when it comes to Israel and Palestine, it’s suddenly a whole different story. Only when the protest is too powerful to ignore is some kind of committee formed. Nobody knows what’s going there and before you realise it, a year and a half has gone by.’

Daniël: ‘A security report commissioned by the university states that the mere presence of Jewish students is a security risk because they are considered targets, and that students shouting “From the river to the sea” are loyal to terrorists. That is insane.’

Amit: ‘When I went to the university the day after the protest, I didn’t feel safe because there were so many police and security guards on campus, supposedly to protect Jewish students and staff. I was wearing the same clothes as the day before. I was only released by the police late in the evening, and since I don’t live in The Hague, I couldn’t go home to get a change of clothes. I definitely felt I was being closely watched.’

Isaac: ‘Historically, Europe is the most anti-Semitic continent. There’s a reason the Holocaust happened here. Nothing like that happened in Palestine. It’s bizarre how the sentiment has shifted from seeing Jewish people as objects of hatred to seeing them as objects in need of protection – and how this is then used to justify police violence against students and the university’s security apparatus. We’re still being portrayed as “the other”.’

EXCUSE

Daniël: ‘I don’t experience anti-Semitism at all in my day-to-day interactions at the university. And it’s not like I hide the fact that I’m Jewish – I didn’t even before the protests started. So it’s all the more strange to us that the university talks about protecting Jewish students in its policy documents. They’re using us for something we don’t approve of.’

Isaac: ‘It’s unheard of that the university is deploying undercover security guards to spy on its own students and go through their stuff. If you don’t stand up against that, it becomes normalised and will only escalate further. I think that we, as Jewish students, have a moral responsibility to say: “No, Leiden University, you’re not doing this in my name. You’re just using us as an excuse for ethnic profiling.” It shows blatant disregard for everything the university claims to stand for. A bastion of freedom? I experienced that “freedom” first-hand when the police got involved.’

Amit: ‘As an anti-Zionist and someone who does speak out against genocide, I find it absurd that the demonstrators are being blamed for the rise in anti-Semitism. If there is a global increase in anti-Semitism, it’s because the only Jewish state in the world is committing genocide. That genocide is anti-Semitic in itself, because Palestinians are also a Semitic people, just like Jews.’

MEETING

The university has announced that it will organise a meeting on 27 May to discuss ‘the impact of this event on staff and students’ sense of security, as well as the space we have to make our voices heard and to demonstrate’. The three students struggle to take this invitation seriously.
 
Isaac: ‘It’s just another delaying tactic. The university has long been opposed to severing ties with Israel and has previously thwarted student meetings on Palestine. There are Jewish students who are also Zionists, support Israel and try to justify what is happening in Gaza right now. The university acts as if they represent Judaism as a whole. I, as a Jewish person, find it reprehensible that our whole identity is being equated with a state that only came into existence in the 1940s.’

Daniël: ‘The Jewish identity is five thousand years old, and for the vast majority of that time, statelessness was a part of it. So why is Israel now suddenly an integral part of our identity? That’s not the Judaism I’m proud of, that’s Zionism. And that’s a very specific political project that has nothing to do with me or my family history.’

Isaac: ‘The university is trying to create a narrative of rabidly anti-Semitic demonstrators posing a threat to Jews, while neo-Nazis are literally marching through Europe. Those are the people who pose a threat to me.’

Daniël: ‘People and politicians who normally wouldn’t have that much of a problem with Nazis or the far right are now using anti-Semitism as a tool to suppress pro-Palestinian voices.’

Amit: ‘This sense of unsafety is not unique to Leiden. One day after our demonstration, there was also an action at Radboud University where a student was badly mauled by a police dog. We see students protesting for Palestine being beaten down all over the world. In Germany and the US, laws are being made that ban criticism of Israel.’

Daniël: ‘In that regard, I don’t think that as a Jewish student you’re at greater risk than a non-Jewish student. From what we’ve seen, you’re especially at risk if you’re pro-Palestinian. Right now, I honestly feel safest among the demonstrators who are being accused of anti-Semitism.’

*The names of Isaac, Amit and Daniël are fictitious, their real identities are known to the editors.