The latter is necessary as a legal agreement had been drawn up regarding the programme. Renewed strategic collaboration with the Hebrew University in the future has not been ruled out, so long as it changes its position.
In an explanatory note accompanying the decision, published on the UM website on Friday, 31 October, the Executive Board writes that the university is currently directly involved with training Israeli armed forces. It is therefore “credible” that the Hebrew University indirectly contributed “to international crimes and severe violations of human rights by Israeli authorities” and thus, the collaboration will be terminated. The ties had already been “frozen” since early 2024, in anticipation of further assessment of the situation, which has now been completed and resulted in advice from the Human Rights Advisory Committee, formed in April. After a discussion with the deans, the Board has accepted the advice.
It was not an easy decision, said Rianne Letschert, President of UM, in answer to Observant’s questions. “You are ending your relationship with the board of a partner university. I had two conversations with them. They were constructive, but we have different views on working with the army. They feel they have spoken out enough against the violence in Gaza, but they have a hard time cutting their ties to the armed forces. If it were deemed likely that the Netherlands had violated human rights on a large scale or been accused of international crimes, and our university were working together with the Royal Military Academy, then our Board would end that collaboration.”
Whatever the case may be, at least things are clear now. Finally, one might say: other Dutch universities had already cut those ties. But Letschert does not think that UM could have done it any sooner. According to her, other universities allowed the committees charged with making the decision to set the assessment criteria. At Maastricht, after pro-Palestinian protests at the university, a new policy tool was announced in the spring of 2024 (the Human Rights Due Diligence Framework, or HRDD). The framework applies not only to Israel, but also to other countries. The HRDD was created after talks with staff and students, and first needed to be approved by the University Council, which did so in February 2025.
That took time, but “given the tensions caused at the university by the war in Gaza, we felt had to do it this way”. Letschert added, “the committee charged with drafting the advice was also made up of researchers doing this alongside their jobs, and there was also the summer break. This whole process was done as quickly as possible, I mean that sincerely.”
She has felt the pressure, though, including from pro-Palestinian protesters, who have been loudly calling for the ties to be cut for two years now. “I’m not made of stone,” she said. “But I do have a responsibility not to bypass any involved parties because of my emotions. This human rights assessment tool shouldn’t be completed any faster just to satisfy the demands of protesters.”
The board of the Hebrew University will be informed of the decision today. “No, they’re not going to be happy,” acknowledged Letschert, “and I do understand that.”
This year was also a pilot year for the human rights committee. It also examined the international collaboration with Sudan, specifically the relationship between the Faculty of Health Medicine and Life sciences (FHML) and the Ahfad University for Women in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum. That relationship will be maintained, as the university “is contributing to the defence human rights under difficult circumstances”.