Tilburg University sets ‘strict conditions’ for future collaboration with Hebrew University

Tilburg University will continue to collaborate with Hebrew University of Jerusalem, but only under strict conditions. This is what the Executive Board says after consultation with the Israeli partner university. Action group Palestine Solidarity Tilburg (PST) sees the Executive Board’s position as a statement of support for Israel’s ‘genocidal institutions’.

A future structural collaboration with Hebrew University is only possible if the Israeli university is actively, explicitly and credibly committed to a number of goals, the Executive Board writes in a press statement today.

Tilburg University sets three requirements for Hebrew University. First: full transparency about and no wrong interference or influence of the Israeli Armed Forces (IDF) in research and education. Second: guaranteeing academic freedom within Hebrew University. And third, public commitment to the reconstruction of Palestinian universities and to a just and lasting peace.

Critical voices

For a peaceful and sustainable solution to the conflict, critical voices within the Israeli university are desperately needed, the board says in its statement. In it, she also indicates that she is facing a ‘diabolical dilemma’ and that she has ‘struggled’ with breaking ties, for the sake of academic freedom and conducting a dialogue.

If the set conditions are not met, Tilburg University will let it be known that it will not enter into a new structural collaboration with the Israeli partner. In this way, the board wants to ‘further increase the pressure’ in the hope that Hebrew University will work for peace with the Palestinian population. For the time being, there will be no new institutional cooperation and no student exchanges.

With the decision to continue discussions under certain conditions, the Executive Board is partly ignoring the recommendations issued by its own advisory committee in December 2024.

Conviction PST

This decision is a refusal to completely sever ties, PST states in a written response from leader Rami Fransawi: “And thus a clear statement of support for an institution that is complicit in genocide, ethnic cleansing and human rights violations.”

Moreover, the exchange with Hebrew University had already been stopped due to the negative travel advice from the Dutch government, according to Fransawi. “We condemn Tilburg University for standing up against the Palestinian people and supporting Israel’s genocidal institutions,” the PST spokesperson concluded.

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