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A View From the Classroom: The War Against Israel on Dutch University Campuses
March 29, 2025, Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands: A pro-Palestinian demonstrator burns a hand-fashioned Israeli flag. Photo: James Petermeier/ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect
Outside of America, the war against Israel is also being fought on European university campuses — a second, often overlooked front.
While most attention is focused on the US, equally troubling developments are unfolding across Europe — particularly in the Netherlands.
Maastricht University exemplifies this concern. Student organizations like Free Palestine Maastricht (FPM) routinely host demonstrations marked by extremist rhetoric, inciting violence and antisemitism. Chants include explicit calls for violence such as “Long live the armed resistance, there is only one solution, Intifada revolution,” and “Falasteen horra horra, el sahyouni barra barra” (Palestine free, Zionists out), creating a deeply hostile environment for Jewish students and faculty.
Beyond rhetoric, FPM engages in fundraising disguised as humanitarian aid, funneling funds to extremist-linked entities in Gaza.
One Gazan recipient, the Sanabel Team, publicly celebrated antisemitic violence against Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer fans in Amsterdam in November 2024, framing these acts as continuations of Hamas atrocities on October 7, 2023. Alarmingly, FPM reposted and endorsed the chilling call: “Kill all Zionists.”
After platforms like PayPal and GoFundMe blocked extremist fundraising, FPM continued through direct transfers and cash collections, coinciding notably with reports of severe financial difficulties faced by Hezbollah, Hamas’ ally.
Faculty complicity further deepens the crisis. A lecturer from Radboud University in Nijmegen reposted propaganda from Hamas’ military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, implicitly endorsing violence. He also explicitly called for disrupting a lecture by Syrian peace advocate Rawan Osman at Maastricht University, enthusiastically acted upon by FPM. The event escalated dangerously, prompting municipal authorities to advise its termination. Protesters surrounded the building, aggressively banged on windows, hurled antisemitic slurs, and attendees required police protection to exit. Subsequently, Jewish students who organized the lecture were denied permission for future events, while FPM continues freely.
Both Nijmegen and Maastricht universities have historical connections with Samidoun, designated by several countries as a front for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a terrorist entity. Samidoun advocates for prisoners involved in terrorism, amplifies extremist rhetoric, and participates actively in anti-Israel propaganda.
Maastricht University maintains partnerships with Iranian universities linked to Iran’s extremist regime, yet simultaneously froze ties with Israeli institutions after FPM occupied a faculty building’s garden, declaring it a “Zionist-free” zone. This double standard underscores alarming institutional complicity. Additionally, FPM has spread the shocking accusation on social media that the Hebrew University of Jerusalem uses stolen Palestinian organs for scientific research — a modern revival of antisemitic blood libels — yet Maastricht University has taken no action against this dangerous and inflammatory propaganda.
This troubling climate exists on campuses across the Netherlands, as confirmed by recent research conducted by Dr. Eliyahu Sapir and myself. Our findings document widespread intimidation, threats, and explicit antisemitism at Dutch universities, including professors penalizing students who object to antisemitic remarks, campus protests equating Israel with Nazi Germany, and confrontations specifically targeting visibly Jewish students.
Campus-driven extremism directly impacts Dutch policy and public opinion. In 2024, intensified activism led the Dutch Court of Appeal to halt exports of essential components for Israel’s F-35 jets. Public opinion has also shifted markedly; an April 2025 Ipsos poll revealed 54% of Dutch citizens now support harsher policies toward Israel.
These campus developments mirror shifts within the Dutch government. Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp consistently aligns his rhetoric with Hamas, advocating ceasefires to facilitate hostage releases, rather than insisting on the prior release of hostages. He criticized pro-Israel groups, labeling their humanitarian support for Jewish settlements “undesirable,” yet offered no similar scrutiny to Hamas-linked funding groups. Veldkamp even prematurely suggested Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu could face arrest due to an ICC ruling, deliberately setting a confrontational diplomatic tone.
The gravity of this situation is internationally recognized. At the upcoming European Jewish Association (EJA) Annual Conference in Madrid (May 12–13, 2025), over 150 Jewish community leaders will address antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment on European campuses, highlighting Maastricht as a key example.
Given this hostile climate and complicity in extremist activities, Israel should seriously reconsider academic partnerships with Dutch universities. Taking decisive action would send a clear message: institutions tolerating antisemitic propaganda must face meaningful consequences.
There are few dissenting voices against this extremist narrative — I am one of them. Consequently, I have received racist and sexist slurs, faced online death threats explicitly stating that I am a legitimate target to be destroyed, vaporized, or made to “disappear.” I have found pigeons slaughtered on my car, and my car door smeared with blood. These attacks are not personal; they are part of the broader war against Israel.
Let’s win it.
The author is Associate Professor at Maastricht University.
The post A View From the Classroom: The War Against Israel on Dutch University Campuses first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Italy’s Navy to Quit Gaza Flotilla as Risk of Israeli Attack Looms
Sailing boats, part of the Global Sumud Flotilla aiming to reach Gaza and break Israel’s naval blockade, sail off Koufonisi islet, Greece, Sept. 26, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stefanos Rapanis
Italy’s navy will stop following the international flotilla heading to Gaza once it gets within 150 nautical miles (278 km) of the shore, the Italian defense ministry said on Tuesday.
The Global Sumud Flotilla, consisting of more than 40 civilian boats carrying parliamentarians, lawyers, and activists including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, aims to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, which has been ruled by the terrorist group Hamas for nearly two decades, and deliver some aid to the Palestinian enclave.
Once the convoy reaches the 150 nautical miles limit, the Italian frigate accompanying it will stop, “as communicated several times in recent days,” the ministry said in a statement.
The ship will issue two warnings to activists, with the second and final one foreseen at around 00:00 GMT, when the flotilla is expected to get within the stated distance, the statement added.
Earlier on Tuesday, an Italian spokeswoman for the flotilla, Maria Elena Delia, said that activists had been informed about the government’s plans to have the navy ship stop and turn back to avoid “a diplomatic incident” with Israel.
She said the flotilla had no intention of heeding Italy’s warnings not to get closer to the shore.
Italy and Spain deployed navy vessels last week to assist the flotilla, after activists said it was hit by drones armed with stun grenades and irritants in international waters off Greece, but without any intention to engage militarily.
Delia said activists were bracing for another strike in the coming hours. “Israel will probably attack us tonight, because all the signals point to this happening,” she said in a video on Instagram.
Israel did not respond to flotilla accusations that it was behind last week’s attacks, but it has vowed to use any means to prevent the boats from reaching Gaza, arguing that its blockade is legal as part of its war against Hamas terrorists who openly seek Israel’s destruction.
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto has said he expects flotilla boats to be intercepted in the open sea and activists to face arrest.
On Tuesday, Crosetto made a “last appeal” to flotilla members to accept a compromise proposal to drop aid in Cyprus and avoid a confrontation with Israeli forces. Flotilla representatives have repeatedly refused the offer.
Israel began its Gaza offensive after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken as hostages.
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US Begins Deporting Hundreds of Iranians After Rare Deal With Tehran
USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, Sept. 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
The first group of about 400 Iranians expected to be deported from the US under President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown were due to land in Qatar on Tuesday before flying to Tehran, a US and an Iranian official said.
The group included both convicted criminals and people who had entered the country illegally, said the US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The transfer marks an unusual moment of coordination between two nations at loggerheads over Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran says is purely civilian but Washington asserts is aimed at building a nuclear bomb.
The Iranian official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, played down the idea of any political deal with the US, which joined Israeli air strikes on Iran and its nuclear facilities in June. The matter was consular, not political, the official said.
CALL TO RESPECT IRANIANS‘ RIGHTS
The Iranian foreign ministry’s director general for parliament affairs, Hossein Noushabadi, said the US was “planning to deport around 400 Iranians, most of whom entered the country illegally, in line with the new anti-immigrant approach of the US government.”
“In the first step, they decided to deport 120 Iranians who entered the US illegally, most of whom through Mexico,” he told the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
Noushabadi called on Washington to respect the rights of Iranian migrants in the United States.
The first group of 120 would reach Iran in the next one or two days, he said.
A US-chartered flight took off from Louisiana on Monday and was scheduled to arrive in Qatar late on Tuesday so the deportees could be transferred to a Tehran-bound flight, the US official said.
The White House and the US State Department did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, said it had not been consulted by the authorities and could not comment on the specifics of any case.
“In general terms, states must ensure access to asylum, due process, and respect for the principle of non-refoulement, meaning that people in need of international protection must not be returned to a place where they face risk of harm,” UNHCR said.
TRUMP’S DEPORTATION PLANS
Some of the Iranians had volunteered to leave after being in detention centers for months, and some had not, according to The New York Times, which first reported the deportations.
Noushabadi was quoted as saying: “Some [returnees] had residence permits but due to reasons stated by the US immigration office they were included in the list. Of course, their own consent was obtained for their return.”
Trump plans to deport a record number of people living in the US without legal status, after high illegal border crossings under his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden.
However, his administration has struggled to increase deportation levels, even as it has created new avenues to send migrants to countries other than their own.
Among those avenues was an agreement with Panama in February that saw dozens of people from different countries, including Iran, deported there.
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Italy Poll Finds 15% See Attacks on Jewish People as ‘Justifiable’
A protester uses a pole to break a window at Milano Centrale railway station, during a demonstration that is part of a nationwide “Let’s Block Everything” protest in solidarity with Gaza, with activists also calling for a halt to arms shipments to Israel, in Milan, Italy, Sept. 22, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Around 15 percent of Italians consider physical attacks on Jewish people “entirely or fairly justifiable,” according to a survey published on Tuesday, as protests against Israel’s offensive in Gaza continue across the country.
Some 18 percent of those interviewed also believe antisemitic graffiti on walls and other public spaces is legitimate, according to the survey, conducted on Sept. 24-26 by the pollster SWG among a national sample of 800 adults.
Roughly a fifth of respondents said it was reasonable to attack professors who expressed pro-Israeli positions or for businesses to reject Israeli customers, after some episodes were reported by Italian media.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long complained of growing antisemitism in European cities, in the Western press and social media, and in elite US universities.
Italy, scarred by 1938 antisemitic statutes under fascism, has laws punishing racial discrimination and hate crimes. The SWG poll showed that 85 percent of respondents believe attacking Jews is “not very or not at all justifiable.”
Last week, protesters in Milan and other Italian cities clashed with police, while dockworkers blocked some ports in solidarity with Palestinians, saying they wanted to stop Italy being used as a staging post for weapons bound for Israel.
The SWG poll, however, said a majority of Italians disapproved of the clashes with police and also the attempt to shut the ports.
PM MELONI IS STRONG SUPPORTER OF ISRAEL
The demonstrators want the right-wing government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to pressure Israel to halt its military campaign in Gaza. Israel launched its offensive after Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, killed some 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages during a surprise invasion of southern Israel.
Meloni’s government has been a steadfast supporter of Israel and refused this month to follow other G7 nations such as Britain, Canada, and France in recognizing Palestinian statehood.
Rome says recognition should come only after all Israeli hostages are freed and Hamas is excluded from any future government role.
Last week, addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Netanyahu accused those countries that have recognized Palestinian statehood of sending a message that “murdering Jews pays off,” a reference to Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel.
The SWG poll also found that a majority of those interviewed backed an international aid flotilla mission seeking to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza and deliver supplies. It includes Italian activists and lawmakers.