The art of saying goodbye without leaving

After 20 months of unyielding genocide and over 77 years of occupation and ethnic cleansing by Israel, we acknowledge that the Executive Board feels something must be done. We also note their recognition of ‘the possibility of genocidal violence’ in Gaza. This is a testament to the hard work of fellow students and employees who, for over a year, have agitated for TU Delft to end its complicity in the oppression of the Palestinian people. Nevertheless, we have several concerns about the course of action announced so far.

Firstly, we must remember that this is not yet a cutting of the ties. The statement assures that existing collaborations will remain in place until they are reassessed – under unknown criteria and at an unknown point in the future. This means TU Delft is still knowingly complicit in genocide, apartheid, and the murder of children until it completely halts all collaborations.

To draw an analogy, if someone driving a car suspects that they are running someone over, they are obligated to slam on the brakes. Continuing to drive over them turns an accident into murder. How can the Executive Board let these collaborations remain active while simultaneously recognizing that there is a strong possibility that they are actively contributing to genocide? One can always resume a collaboration, but one cannot bring back the lives that were lost or wipe that blood off their hands.

Secondly, many words are spent on a ‘demanding’ criteria for reassessment that will have ‘limited exceptions’. We could criticise the vagueness of these descriptors or the fact that we have no indication of what the criteria are and how they will be assessed, but that is beside the point.

Any and all ties with a settler-colonial entity like Israel are problematic, not just those that fit arbitrary criteria determined by the Executive Board. After all, how innocuous is a collaboration with the municipality of Jerusalem about ‘urban mobility’ when it is one of the most racially segregated cities in the world? What use is a collaboration on hydrogen-powered short-flight aircraft when the only short flights that take place in occupied Palestine are those that drop bombs on children?

For the past year and a half, it has been difficult to keep the conversation about Palestine going on campus

A settler-colonial state prospers when it is better able to control, surveil, and eventually exterminate its victims. Therefore, any ties with this entity, regardless of whether or not it is military in nature, are bound to further its genocidal aims. Given that every major research institute in Israel is inextricably affiliated with the IDF (Israeli Defence Force), what criteria can they meet in the eyes of the Executive Board to be considered an acceptable research partner?

Thirdly, the Executive Board’s statement repeatedly declares that it is talking about institutional, not individual, collaboration. However, we need more clarity from them on how they distinguish between these types of collaboration and what that distinction entails. Would an individual researcher still be allowed to work with academics in Israel on technologies that are used for the purposes of oppression?

Lastly, we welcome the Executive Board’s change of heart about opening the space for students and staff to show solidarity with the Palestine cause. For the past year and a half, it has been difficult to keep the conversation about Palestine going on campus, especially with multiple forms of censorship and harassment taking place.

Students and staff had to fight hard to be heard, and multiple complaints regarding racism against Palestinians were not taken seriously. The last negotiations with the Executive Board took place in July 2024 and resulted in the decision to create the moral deliberation chamber. We are committed to resuming talks with them that result in a cessation of TU Delft’s complicity in Israel’s crimes. We also invite them to involve us in the process of establishing the mechanisms to ensure compliance with the policy.

Altogether, the most important takeaway is that patient and determined action against oppression can move even the most intransigent of actors. However, we must remember one thing – this is not the end. The march towards justice must continue!