Protest on campus: ‘Our demonstrations are targetted at the Israeli Government’

At 12:00 sharp on Wednesday 28 November, two police officers walked out of the Aula and headed straight to the organisers of the TU Delft branch of the nationwide ‘walk-out for Palestine’. The growing group of students, staff members and other interested individuals stand on and in front of the steps leading to the TU Delft Library during their lunch break. They are carrying banners and Palestinian flags. When the police officers hear details of the expected turnout and the end time, they are satisfied. “It is their right to demonstrate,” says one of them. “If you use that right and do it decently, you won’t have any problems with us.”

Unclear
Still, not everything is clear. A security officer from the Library comes and says that the TU Delft’s Emergency Call Centre has said that the banners and Palestinian flags must be removed. One of the police officers advises him to check this. “Why should you not have flags? You would then just be a group of people on a square.” A little while later a compromise is reached – as long as they are not Hamas flags.

It is often evident that TU Delft’s policy is not clear, says Tom Twigt, student and ‘walk-out’ spokesperson. He had had contact with the Safety and Security Department on Monday. “At first it looked like you could not do anything, but if you continue asking questions, it turns out that you can demonstrate.”

“When we did the teach-in, we had prepared everything and 10 minutes beforehand someone from the Safety and Security Department came to me and asked ‘You won’t be using words like genocide, will you?’,” says Twigt. “But human rights experts are using these kinds of words, so you should be able to use them to make your point too.” When the word was used at the teach-in, the security officers did not respond. To him, this creates a lack of clarity about the rules.

War industry
In any case, the chanting of slogans during the demonstration under the watchful eyes of the security officers was permitted, even though that was not the case at the teach-in. Slogans such as ‘Free, free Palestine’ and the controversial ‘From the river to the sea’ were repeatedly shouted. The organisers say that these were not directed at Jews and Israelis. “We again emphasise that Israelis are welcome to study, work and so on here. Our demonstrations are targetted at the Israeli Government and the links that TU Delft has with the Israeli war machine,” argues Twigt.

There are also speeches about the demands of the demonstrators and personal stories from Gaza. A student, Hagar El Bamby, reads the experiences of Palestinians in the conflict aloud. One of these is a poem by the Gazan journalist Ahmed Dremly. Hagar’s voice breaks while she reads his words: “I’m still breathing, but that’s not enough to feel alive.”

The protest organiser Twigt and his co-organiser Begüm (surname known to the Editorial Office) also have some demands for TU Delft. “We read in the newspaper that Israel has committed war crimes, but it does so with our support,” says Twigt. The organisers therefore want TU Delft to break all ties with the Israeli weapon industry. Begüm points to a statement (at the bottom of the page) by the 4TU Centre for Ethics and Technology, a partnership between four technical universities in the Netherlands. “We ask TU Delft to be consistent in its morals. As 4TU says, human rights must be supported and not infringed by technological developments.”

After talking to some of the students present, it appears that they are worried about the consequences that their views may have. “When I let people know about a demonstration like this, they are afraid that they will be kicked out of their course,” says student Yusuf. “If people were not worried about this, there would have been three times more people here.” He finds the attitude of TU Delft odd. “We are taught that we should be socially engaged, but if there is a conflict, I see little support from TU Delft for the victims.”