In February, the Executive Board met with the University Council to discuss Leiden University’s ties with Israeli universities and institutions. Staff council members Joost Augusteijn and Timothy de Zeeuw wish for Leiden to suspend its ties with Israeli institutions due to the war in Gaza. The Board has no intention of doing so for the time being. At the time, only the student exchange programmes with Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University were addressed during the meeting.
But the collaboration extends much further. Research by Mare conducted in the EU research database CORDIS shows that Leiden collaborates extensively with Israeli universities, institutions and companies.
The EU has funding programmes called Horizon Europe. In 11 of these ongoing programmes, Leiden works together with Israeli institutions such as The University of Haifa, Bar Ilan University and Technion: the Israel Institute of Technology.
INTELLIGENCE SERVICE
One of the programmes that stands out is the European Glocal Counter-Terrorism project (EU-GLOCTER), in which several universities and companies train PhD candidates in the field of counter-terrorism. Leiden University and the independent think tank International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, based in The Hague and co-founded by the university in 2010, both receive around €275,000 from the EU funding pot for this programme. Other participants include the Israeli private university Reichman, as well as its consultancy arm: the company Counter-Terrorism Solutions Ltd (CTS).
This is highly questionable, says Itaï van de Wal. He is a legal specialist at the European Legal Support Center and helps human rights organisation The Rights Forum with a request filed under the Open Government Act (Woo request) concerning the ties of Dutch universities with Israeli universities, organisations and companies (for which not much information has been received as of yet). Van de Wal: ‘Reichman’s International Counter Terrorism Institute, which this company falls under, consists of researchers and veterans from the military and security and intelligence services.’
The institute’s website includes the names of Shabtai Shavit, former Director-General of intelligence agency Mossad until 1996, who passed away in September 2023, and colonels Miri Eisin and Eitan Azani, both out of active service.The institute and company translate experience in suppressing Palestinians into consultancy for the military industry,’ says Van de Wal. ‘When it comes to counter-terrorism, the tactics used by the army and, for example, the Shin Bet security service, are no joke. ‘They systematically violate human rights. What this company is saying, essentially, is: “We develop techniques that have been tested on Palestinians.”’
‘These European projects are real partnerships,’ explains Andrea Reyes Elizondo. She is a project coordinator at the Centre for Science and Technology Studies and a PhD candidate at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society. ‘The European commission encourages cooperation between different universities and also with companies. I’ve worked on several Horizon programmes, including RISIS-I and II. It’s certainly not the case that every piece of data is shared in such a project, but some of the information is.’
LEGITIMISATION
‘As far as I know, there is no EU check as to whether the universities in Israel observe human rights. It’s not just about European money being distributed, but by allowing them to participate in certain projects, the EU legitimises certain institutions. If that legitimacy is used to oppress people, then that is a problem.
‘In RISIS, there was an Israeli partner: the Samuel Neaman Institute of Technion. I remember that one of the researchers was a settler from occupied territory. That felt very uncomfortable.’
Van de Wal feels that cooperation with any Israeli university is problematic. ‘They all work together with the country’s defence and security apparatus. They gather intelligence through surveillance and keeping Palestinians under control. You could say they thrive at the expense of Palestinian lives.’
Dutch universities should follow ‘the principle of do no harm’ when entering into a partnership, Van de Wal explains. ‘That seems to be a generally accepted ethical principle in science: your research should not cause any harm. In this case, you know you’re collaborating with institutions that do cause harm, some of which, like The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, are built in occupied territory.’
Reyes Elizondo condemns the cooperation with Reichman University in the EU GLOCTER programme. ‘We should not partner up with institutions and companies that do not respect human rights. The international community, including universities, should say: what is happening in Gaza and the West Bank is not okay. Suspending ties with Israeli institutions is a means of exerting pressure.’
‘It’s become clear that the ties with Israeli universities and institutes are more extensive than was previously thought,’ responds University Council member Joost Augusteijn to Mare’s findings. ‘Among them are organisations that apparently actively participate in oppression.’
Council member Timothy de Zeeuw also comments that the list of collaborations includes 'some concerning organisations'.
Augusteijn announces that there is now ‘immediate cause to once again raise the question with the Board if these ties shouldn’t be suspended, particularly in light of the increasing international criticism of Israel’s actions. So far, the Board’s responses have been inconsistent and unsatisfactory, to put it mildly.’
On Tuesday morning, Mare asked the Executive Board to comment on Leiden’s role in the EU GLOCTER programme and other partnerships with Israeli universities and companies.
At 5 pm on Wednesday afternoon, university spokesperson Mischa van Vlier sent an email informing Mare that they would not be able to answer those questions. ‘It would be unfortunate if the impression were created that we refused to respond, when in fact, quite a few people have been working hard to answer a number of complex questions at very short notice.’
However, on Thursday morning, the university did manage to send the following brief response:
‘Leiden University collaborates with a large group of European universities and knowledge institutions, as well as some institutions from Israel, within the EU-GLOCTER Horizon programme. This programme focuses on research in the field of counter-terrorism in the EU context. As previously stated, Universities of the Netherlands (UNL) is investigating whether there are specific Israeli universities that might be violating human rights. This requires careful investigation and will take time.’