OPINION - Don't wait any longer to suspend ties with Israeli partner universities. This is the call made by Adriejan van Veen, assistant professor in Political History. Tilburg University's advisory committee demonstrates excellently that universities must take moral responsibility. This applies to Radboud University as well.

While the Advisory Committee on Partnerships at Radboud University only started in October and expects its advice sometime in the spring, its counterpart at Tilburg University has already finished the job. It published its advice on Friday 6 December. Unlike the Nijmegen committee, which lacks human rights experts, the Tilburg advisory committee is chaired by a professor of human rights, Nicola Jägers. The advice is also relevant to Radboud University, as it shares at least three partnerships with Tilburg University: Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University and Technion. The committee advises Tilburg University to suspend all partnerships with Israeli universities. Our Executive Board should not wait until its own advisory committee is ready, but should adopt the Tilburg advice. The Tilburg committee has already done the work.

Independent moral actors

For example, the Tilburg advisory committee has drawn up an excellent human rights assessment framework. In it, it demonstrates that universities, too, have an international legal obligation to prevent involvement in human rights violations. ‘Involvement’ also includes facilitating, supporting and assisting actors directly involved in human rights violations (p. 12 advice). Moreover, as the committee states, universities are independent moral actors who, based on their core values, may be expected to prevent such involvement. These considerations also apply to Radboud University and are in line with its core values, such as connectedness with the world around us.

‘Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University and Technion proudly offer their facilities and expertise for the training of soldiers’

The Tilburg committee shows that there is no doubt that gross and systematic human rights violations and possibly genocide are taking place in Gaza and the West Bank. She bases her findings on authoritative sources such as the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Special Commission for the Palestinian Territories of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the UN Security Council. The ICJ has also ruled that Israel’s illegal occupation of Gaza and the West Bank constitutes apartheid (p. 13-15 advice).

Work off the hands

The Tilburg committee – as Maya Wind did in Towers of Ivory and Steel – takes quite a bit of work off the hands of the Nijmegen advisory committee by demonstrating how closely Radboud University’s Israeli partner universities are intertwined with the army, Defence Ministry, the intelligence services and the arms industry. Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University and Technion proudly offer their facilities and expertise for the training of soldiers, intelligence officers and employees of arms manufacturers. There is a continuous exchange of personnel between universities, Defence, the army and the arms industry. Radboud University’s partner universities have think tanks that advise on military strategies in Gaza. They also work closely with arms companies, and their jointly developed technology (AI, drones, weapons systems) is used in Gaza, where human rights are systematically violated (p. 16-19 advice).

The Nijmegen advisory committee does not have to look for statements from Israeli partners that critically question the dramatic human rights situation and (possible) genocide in Gaza. The Tilburg committee has already done this, and found nothing. On the other hand, the Tilburg committee did find statements that justify the destruction of Gaza. For example, it found on the website of a partner university: ‘This is also a one-time opportunity for Israel to physically shape the ruined Strip according to its interests.’ The Nijmegen advisory committee investigates behavior of partners towards their own employees and/or students that goes against the core values ​​of Radboud University. The Tilburg advisory committee presents examples: it points to the suspension and arrest of Palestinian professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, to campus organizations that ‘name and shame’ critical staff, and to measures against Palestinian students who speak out critically (p. 19-20 advice).

‘Breaking ties with partners is about taking moral responsibility’

The Tilburg committee notes that there is a great risk that Israeli partner universities – which are also partners of Radboud University – are directly involved in human rights violations. But it particularly holds it against them that they do not take their moral responsibility as ‘witnesses and bystanders’. Here it is worth quoting the Tilburg advice directly:

Witnesses and bystanders have important moral obligations, such as directing attention, testifying, protesting, questioning, engaging in critical discussion or (symbolically) distancing themselves. (…). It should be emphasized that this case concerns a situation in which it has been established that it is plausible that there have been violations of mandatory law, including possible genocide. If witnesses and bystanders have any obligations, it is here. (p. 22 advice)

Cooperation also makes Tilburg University a witness and bystander with moral responsibility. That is why it must ‘take action’ and suspend its partnerships with Israeli universities. According to the committee, the impact of this should not be underestimated. All of this applies equally to Radboud University – it, too, is a witness and bystander of gross human rights violations and (possible) genocide, and must therefore not remain passive.

Considerable overlap

There is considerable overlap between the assignments of the Tilburg and Nijmegen advisory committees. The partners of both universities – Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University, Technion – are largely the same. In the case of Radboud University, too, the collaborative activities themselves will likely not pose a threat to human rights. While those of Tilburg are student exchange programs and research projects on mental health care, aging and labor, and screening for colon cancer, those of Radboud University are concerned with astronomical, medical, and classical studies research projects. However, that is not what this is about. Breaking ties with partners directly involved in human rights violations is about taking moral responsibility as witnesses and bystanders, and about the core values ​​of the university, which are not only about academic freedom, but – as the Tilburg committee writes – ‘adequate and correct judgment’ and ‘the elevation of humanity as an ideal’ (p. 21 advice). If Radboud University does not want to lose its identity, the Executive Board should immediately adopt Tilburg’s advice.