Pro-Palestinian protesters who are occupying a campus building have renamed it after Walid Daqqa, a terrorist of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), an organization which is blacklisted in the European Union.

‘’It is dangerous for Jewish students to go where the pro-Palestinian protesters are staying and are shouting ‘Jews go out’ and ‘Zionists fascists’

 

Jewish students bearing an Israeli flag were attacked Tuesday evening by pro-Palestinian protesters who are occupying a building at the campus of Brussels Free University (ULB). Police arrived on the scene thirty  minutes after the violence began to separate the Jewish students from the assaillant mob, according to a witness.

The protesters have renamed the building after Walid Daqqa, a terrorist of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), an organization which is blacklisted in the European Union.

They denounced the “ongoing genocide in Gaza” called for an intifada, shouted slogans such as “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and demanded that the university authorities “immediately and unequivocally break off all forms of collaboration with Zionist academic institutions and companies involved in the systematic oppression of the Palestinian people in Palestine”.

They also called on the university to cancel the visit of the former Israeli ambassador to France, Elie Barnavi,  invited by ULB rector Annemie Schaus for a conference on June 3.

One of the Jewish students, Gad Deshayes, who is President of the Union of Jewisg Students in Belgium, was beaten and insulted. A protester tried to tear down the Israeli flag Deshayes was wearing by grabbing his neck.

Deshayes told European Jewish Press that earlier on the same day he met with the university rector Annermie Schaus ‘’to discuss with the authorities what happened on the campus the last months.’’ ‘’We have regular contacts with them and they are open to find solutions.’’ ‘’We also spoke about the risk of an occupation of a building like it happened at Ghent university,  Science Po in Paris and in American universities.’’

‘’Now we are of course demanding the end of the current occupation and the possibility for Jewish students to enter the campus in total serenity,’’ he said.

‘’It is dangerous for Jewish students to go where the pro-Palestinian protesters are staying and are shouting ‘Jews go out’ and ‘Zionists fascists’’’, he added.

‘’We have no problem with the fact that people mobilize for the Palestinian cause but what we see is just incitement to hatred on the campus and antisemitic slogans.’’

He doesn’t believe that the  university authorities will stop its ties with Israeli academic institutions ”but you never know.” In March, however, the ULB Academic Council decided to suspend its student exchange agreement with Tel Aviv University and research projects funded by the European Union that include academics and researchers from certain Israeli universities have been analyzed.

In a statement issued Tuesday after the occupation of the campus bulding, the Brussels university wroter: ‘’The terrible conflict in the Middle East is polarizing opinion throughout society, including within the university community. Like all citizens, the members of ULB were shocked, firstly by the terrible terrorist attack by Hamas and the hostage-taking to which the people of southern Israel were and still are subjected, then by the disproportionate Israeli military reaction, causing thousands of deaths, massive destruction of infrastructure in Gaza and displacement of populations with dramatic consequences.

The statement added : ‘’Under no circumstances can the violence of war lead to violence on our campuses. Every member of the university community has the right to dignity and security. No member of the university community can be assimilated to the exactions and political stances of others because of his or her origins. Any discussion of ideas must be preceded by absolute respect for the other party.’’

On Wednesday, the rector denounced the attack against the Jewish students, calling it ”unacceptable.” “The violence of war cannot under any circumstances lead to violence on our campuses. Every member of the university community has the right to dignity and security. No member of the university community can be assimilated to the exactions and political stances of others because of his or her origins. Any discussion of ideas must be preceded by absolute respect for the interlocutor”, she stated.

For the CCOJB, the umbrella group of Belgian Jewish organisations, ”this occupation has no other purpose than to bring out its hatred of the world’s only Jewish state, Israel. It called  for an ”immediate and firm reaction from both academic and political authorities to put an end to this unbearable situation and to protect all students on university campuses.”

In another Belgian university, in Ghent, some 100 students also occupied a part of the campus.

Several UGent employees and professors have signed an open letter supporting the protest and condemning the university’s decision to continue research collaboration with Israeli academic institutons.

“UGent never gives permission to occupy buildings, but if this happens, a general framework of agreements applies,” rector Rik Van de Walle said in a statement, adding that UGent subjects universities with which it collaborates to a human rights investigation.