Dutch universities order staff to reveal their ties to Jewish and Israeli groups

[Mosby]

At the behest of a pro-Palestinian organization whose critics say is antisemitic, administrators at more than a dozen Dutch universities are instructing their staff to list their interactions with Israeli and Jewish organizations.

The order followed a request sent last month by The Rights Forum, a pro-Palestinian advocacy group, to the offices of multiple universities. The universities are gathering the information because the group’s request was certified as what is known in the Netherlands as a WOB request, meaning a query certified by the country’s prosecution service under a 1991 freedom of information law and binding on public or state-funded organizations.

It is unclear whether the universities will complete the full request by passing on the information to The Rights Forum.

In the request, Gerard Jonkman, director of The Rights Forum, wrote that under the WOB request, he is seeking documents or information on “Institutional ties with Israel universities, institutions and businesses and with organizations that propagate support for the State of Israel.”


https://www.jta.org/2022/02/10/global/dutch-universities-order-staff-to-reveal-their-ties-to-jewish-and-israeli-groups

[Behind the Aegis]

1. This is beyond disgusting!

I wonder what the legality is in the Netherlands. This is the type of anti-Semitism from the left that is so fucking dangerous, disguising it as "intellectual and a form of advocacy".

[Behind the Aegis]

2. UPDATE

Dutch universities pause investigations into their ties with Jewish and Israeli groups

A group of 14 public Dutch universities are suspending their investigations into their ties with Israeli and Jewish entities.

The Association of Universities in the Netherlands, a trade group that includes the University of Amsterdam, made the announcement Friday in a joint statement following an outcry among Jewish groups.

The Rights Forum, a pro-Palestinian group founded by a former Dutch prime minister who critics call antisemitic, had issued a freedom of information request, or WOB in the Netherlands, on the topic. The group asked for documents or information on “institutional ties with Israel universities, institutions and businesses and with organizations that propagate support for the State of Israel.”

“The handling and distribution of the Wob request has led to feelings of unrest and insecurity within universities. We regret this,” the group of universities wrote in an additional statement on Tuesday. “We stand for a safe educational, research and working climate for all our employees and students. We take the signals that this has come into question as a result of our approach to the Wob request and confirm that a careful assessment of the request is necessary.”

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Maybe they are trying to shake their looking like collaborators again!

[Behind the Aegis]

3. UPDATE AGAIN

Dutch universities to ignore query on ties to Jewish groups — but may divulge on Israel

A group of public universities in the Netherlands said that they will ignore a controversial freedom of information query on their ties with Jewish groups, but they appeared willing in principle to disclose their connections with Israeli entities.

The Universities of the Netherlands, an umbrella group for the country’s 14 public universities, released their latest statement on the drama on Monday, following a recent query by The Rights Forum, a pro-Palestinian organization whose founder has long fought accusations of antisemitism.

The query “targets a specific group of citizens, including staff, students and alumni of our universities, creating feelings of unsafety, injustice and discrimination. We will not cooperate with this,” the statement reads.

The Rights Forum had asked for documents or information on “institutional ties with Israel universities, institutions and businesses and with organizations that propagate support for the State of Israel.” But it also named non-Israeli Jewish organizations from the Netherlands and beyond, including the Anti-Defamation League; the Central Jewish Board of the Netherlands; the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance; B’nai B’rith International; and the office of the Dutch government’s own National Coordinator for Fighting Antisemitism, which is headed by Edo Verdonner, who is Jewish.

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Are other groups going to have to "expose" their ties to other nations or political entities?