I Accuse: The Collapse of Moral Integrity in the Netherlands

Amanda Kluveld

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March 29, 2025, Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands: A pro-Palestinian demonstrator burns a hand-fashioned Israeli flag. Photo: James Petermeier/ZUMA Press Wire via Reuters Connect

On May 13, 2025, upon arriving to teach at my university, I was confronted by demonstrators aggressively chanting slogans such as: “Say it loud, say it clear, we don’t want no Zionists here,” and even more threateningly, “With our blood, with our soul, we will redeem you, Gaza.”

As I attempted to document this explicit hostility by filming it with my phone, senior university administrators and security officials intervened — not to protect me, but to publicly pressure me into deleting my recordings. They falsely insisted I had no legal right to document this open intimidation toward Jews and Zionists. When I refused, they demanded that I physically leave — not for my safety, but explicitly because demonstrators refused to pass by me, unwilling even to tolerate my presence. Again, I refused, unwilling to legitimize antisemitic exclusion. I am a human being, it is my workplace, I have the right to exist.

Standing completely isolated and publicly humiliated, I was openly attacked by colleagues siding with the demonstrators. One colleague loudly declared explicitly for demonstrators to hear: “These are autonomous students demonstrating for a very important cause, and you’re here only to provoke trouble — disgusting.” Another colleague repeatedly insisted, “They want you to stop!” When I calmly replied that I understood but would not comply, the colleague persisted: “If you don’t stop, they won’t leave.” To this, I responded: “I do not negotiate with terrorists.”

Students shouted accusations at me, openly suggesting I was being paid to film them. A senior security official, with a student triumphantly nodding beside her, explicitly asserted: “It is okay to say this about Zionists because Zionism is a conviction.” Thus, my colleagues validated antisemitic hostility, accusing me of “refusing to cooperate with de-escalation,” perversely shifting responsibility onto me — the victim.

When I announced my intention to formally report this intimidation, campus security — on whom I depend for protection due to ongoing threats — informed me in that case that I would stand entirely alone against the institutional establishment. With a nauseating feeling of fear in my stomach and my blood sugar rising to extreme highs — I am diabetic — I managed to say quietly, without any sense of bravery: “So be it.”

I stood alone, symbolic of the isolation imposed upon Jewish students and faculty nationwide. Today, I require a security escort simply to reach my classroom safely.

How did it come to this? It began subtly, with silence and hesitation in the face of rising hostility toward Jews. Institutional failure to challenge antisemitic rhetoric disguised as political critique allowed it to flourish unchecked. Academic colleagues, driven by fear, ideology, or convenience, chose complicity over courage. Municipal and national authorities selectively demonized Israel, legitimizing antisemitic discourse. Ultimately, it solidified through media, cultural institutions, and even Holocaust and genocide scholars abdicating moral responsibility, lending legitimacy to distorted accusations against Jews and Israel — with devastating results.

Recently, we once again witnessed the consequences of antisemitic incitement. Two young Israeli embassy employees — a couple soon to be engaged — were brutally murdered outside the Jewish Museum in Washington. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded: “We are witnessing the heavy price we pay for antisemitism and incitement against Israel. Hatred against Israel costs lives, and we will fight it until the bitter end.” Indeed, this toxic incitement thrives not only abroad but also here in the Netherlands, actively fueled by respectable Dutch institutions.

In 1898, Émile Zola published his historic open letter J’accuse!, confronting institutional antisemitism against Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer falsely accused of treason. Today, inspired by Zola’s moral clarity, I explicitly accuse the Netherlands of a similar profound ethical collapse.

I explicitly accuse Dutch universities of fostering hostile environments for Zionist students, professors, and speakers. Jewish students increasingly report isolation, fear, and self-censorship regarding their identity or support for Israel. I moreover accuse these institutions of double standards and cowardice for investigating and cutting ties with Israeli partners.

I explicitly accuse Maastricht University of tolerating antisemitic disruptions. Scholar Rawan Osman’s lecture on March 12, 2025, was disrupted by demonstrators openly chanting antisemitic slogans, yet the university imposed no meaningful consequences. Subsequently, a lecture by Jewish activist Shabbos Kestenbaum was canceled due to alleged security concerns, effectively rewarding intimidation. At the same time, Maastricht maintains active ties with Iranian universities explicitly affiliated with a regime notorious for hostility toward Israel — a profound institutional hypocrisy. I accuse Maastricht University of tolerating explicit calls to “kill all Zionists.”

I explicitly accuse Erasmus University Rotterdam of severe ethical complicity for hosting Francesca Albanese, a controversial UN rapporteur accused by UN Watch of receiving undisclosed funding from pro-Hamas lobbying groups.

I explicitly accuse Dutch municipalities, historically uninvolved in foreign affairs, of unprecedented selective hostility toward Israel, publicly condemning Israeli actions while remaining silent about atrocities committed by oppressive regimes. Municipal authorities nationwide tolerate widespread antisemitic vandalism, implicitly endorsing antisemitism and moral decay.

I explicitly accuse Femke Halsema, mayor of Amsterdam, of profound moral hypocrisy. Mayor Halsema accused Israel of “genocide,” yet deliberately withdrew the term “pogrom” when describing violent antisemitic attacks in Amsterdam. Her administration notably failed to intervene effectively during violent disruptions at the opening of Amsterdam’s Holocaust Museum.

I explicitly accuse Dutch Minister of Education Eppo Bruins of profound moral negligence, consistently evading responsibility by hiding behind university autonomy, even as Jewish students report intimidation and fear. Explicit calls for violence against Zionists remain unanswered, allowing antisemitism to thrive unchecked.

I explicitly accuse Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp of diplomatic hypocrisy, urging EU scrutiny of Israel’s legitimacy while informally hosting Francesca Albanese, despite clear evidence detailing her pro-terrorist affiliations.

I explicitly accuse Dutch Holocaust and genocide scholars and their institutes of ethical abdication. By endorsing unfounded accusations of genocide against Israel, they trivialize genuine historical atrocities and misuse their moral mandates.

Today, we stand at a critical moral crossroads — not just in the Netherlands, but globally — as antisemitism and hostility toward Jewish communities surge alarmingly. To every reader, I urgently appeal: Write your own J’accuse. Speak openly against institutional silence and complicity — even if you must stand alone. Refuse antisemitism masquerading as political critique, academic freedom, or cultural expression. Demand accountability, moral clarity, and historical integrity from all institutions and leaders.

As for those whom I accuse: I await openly and publicly, ready to be held accountable for my words — but also demanding accountability from those whose silence and complicity brought us here.

I await. Alone.

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The author is Associate Professor at Maastricht University. You can find more information about the situation on Dutch campuses here.

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