Are student exchanges with Israeli universities enriching or risky?
The activists who occupied the Maagdenhuis building this month demanded, among other things, that the University of Amsterdam (UvA) ends all student exchanges with Israel. Do these exchanges strengthen students' academic development or do they pose too great an ethical risk?
UvA student Eva* (23) went to Tel Aviv University for two months in 2022 to learn Hebrew. After a previous visit to Israel and with a master’s degree in Jewish studies in the pipeline, she wanted to “get to know the country and the language better”. “I wanted to immerse myself in a Hebrew-speaking environment”.
She succeeded, because within two months she had mastered the basics of the language. “I learned half of it in the classroom and the other half at the market, by using it every day.” She also gained insights into the different population groups in the country. “I knew from lectures that Ethiopian Jews have a worse social position, but when you see their poverty for yourself, you really experience it.”
Eva looks back positively on her time there. That is precisely why she advocates maintaining student exchanges. “It enriches all students, but especially those studying Jewish studies, because it is important for them to learn from many different researchers, including Israeli ones.” She would therefore have liked to talk about it “under her own name”. “But in this climate, I don't dare.”
The UvA has three exchange agreements with Tel Aviv University, Hebrew University, and Ben-Gurion University for four, six, and eight students per year, respectively.
A brief survey conducted by Folia shows that most of these students are enrolled in bachelor's programs in Hebrew language and culture (permanent exchange), history, political science, and Middle Eastern studies (mainly Erasmus+ exchanges). In addition, the UvA made grants available for Hebrew summer courses (Ulpan) until October 2023. Common motivations for participating included learning Hebrew, studying the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Israeli history, conducting source research, and/or having personal (family) ties to the country.
These exchanges have been inactive since October 2023 due to a negative travel advice from the Dutch government. It is unclear how many UvA students participated in the exchanges prior to that time. However, it is known the UvA recalled seven students from Israel shortly after and that approximately ten UvA students exchanged with the Hebrew University each year.
Despite the suspension, Israeli students can still study at the UvA. Their current number remains unclear.
Exchanges under fire
Last month’s occupation of the Maagdenhuis building marked the protest against the intention to resume the UvA exchange with the Hebrew University at a later stage.
Pro-Palestinian activists criticize the university for this decision, despite the findings of the review committee that academic freedom cannot be guaranteed for exchange students at the Hebrew University. According to the committee, students there may encounter human rights violations. The activists are calling for a total halt: in their view, all Israeli universities are intertwined with political structures that enable abuses such as those at Hebrew University. They therefore believe that the UvA should also stop exchanges with Tel Aviv and Ben-Gurion universities.
Opponents of a total ban point out that it is mainly students who go to Israel to study Hebrew and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict who will be affected (see box). Opponents argue that an exchange boycott would restrict these students’ freedom to study Israel and its language, which is necessary for a critical view of the war there.
The UvA has announced that it will continue to critically assess the exchanges case-to-case, but sees no reason to terminate all programs with Israel at this time. How do UvA students themselves look back on their time in the country? Is a boycott necessary because of the risk that students will encounter abuses there, or does it actually harm the freedom to study this complex country academically?
Voice of the Palestinian
According to Tineke Bennema (62), a former exchange student at Hebrew University and historian, there is a serious lack of critical perspectives at Israeli universities.
In 1988, she conducted research there for her master’s thesis on the extremist Israeli rabbi Meir Kahane. “As an international student, I ended up in a kind of strange enclave. I was given a lot of information about the Jewish history of Israel and Jerusalem, but I heard nothing about the Palestinians in East Jerusalem and their history. I did ask questions about it, but I didn't get any answers.” Bennema also had no contact with Palestinian students from the occupied territories, she adds, “only with Arab students living in Israel.”
She decided to talk to Palestinians in the vicinity of her student accommodation. “They told me that they themselves were not allowed to study at the university. That Palestinians in the occupied territories are only allowed to attend Israeli universities with a special permit from Israel, which they rarely receive, even though their families have lived in the country for centuries.” According to her, this is contrary to international law: her former student accommodation is still located on land that was illegally appropriated by the university from a Palestinian village, she says. “I felt terrible when I found out.”
These experiences permanently changed Bennema’s outlook. She worked in Palestine for seven years, according to her X account. She believes that the restricted access for Palestinian students from occupied territories to Israeli universities and their lack of prospects within education show that “academic freedom and international law are under pressure in Israel,” including for exchange students. She refers to the findings of the review committee. “It has already decided that academic freedom at the Hebrew University is not in order and that human rights are being violated. The UvA must listen to this and discontinue its cooperation. Otherwise, you undermine the entire system of international law.”
Eva believes that the review committee should therefore also investigate abuses elsewhere, “such as the exchanges with the United States at present”. Bennema agrees, although she emphasizes once again that by not following the committee's advice, the UvA is “arbitrarily choosing what suits it best”. She refers to the decision to stop the exchange with Russia in 2022. “The university is applying double standards if it takes human rights violations into account in one country but not in another.”
Bennema is also critical of the argument that a boycott would deprive students of the freedom to study Israel and Hebrew. “There are plenty of opportunities to take a Hebrew course in the Netherlands, such as in Leiden.” And what about studying the conflict? “For that, you could also go to a Palestinian university.”
No alternative
Switch to Leiden? According to professor Bart Wallet and lecturer in the Bachelor’s program in Hebrew Language and Culture, that is not an option. “A student can take a course there, but they cannot immerse themselves in the language.” According to Wallet, immersion is crucial for learning Hebrew properly. “By constantly being around Hebrew speakers, students are forced to use the language. That's difficult to replicate here at the UvA.”
Bachelor’s students normally spend a semester at Ben-Gurion University in their second year, “a program that perfectly matches their prior knowledge. This allows them to complete their language development and achieve the program’s learning outcomes.” However, this exchange has been on hold since the war and the subsequent negative travel advice. “We have another program with a university in Prague, but it doesn't really add much to the program here. So only one of our students went there last year.”
According to Wallet, a scenario in which all exchanges, including those with Ben-Gurion, are permanently terminated would be “very problematic” for the bachelor’s program. “How will our students complete their language development? We are currently trying to solve this with some improvisation, such as pairing our students with Israeli students via Zoom, but it is not a real solution.” He also argues that the exchanges are important in giving students a “better picture of Israeli society and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” which is “of great importance for the development of a critical academic perspective.”
Wallet further emphasizes that since Bennema’s exchange, the number of Palestinians at Israeli universities has increased significantly. “There are also specific programs for Palestinian students from the West Bank.” Although the Hebrew University now has eight percent Palestinian students from East Jerusalem, Tineke argues that many students from the occupied territories still find it “difficult to obtain a permit to study in Israel. Since October 7, many permits have also been revoked”.
Regarding student accommodation on Palestinian land, Wallet says that the Hebrew University “owns the property rights to that land” and that “students are responsible for their own accommodation” and are therefore not required to stay there. He also says that there have been exchanges between the UvA and a Palestinian university, Bir Zeit, in the past.
The future
Although the debate continues about alternatives for UvA students if exchanges are discontinued, Eva points out there is a new, albeit limited, opportunity for source research for theses. “Collections in Israel can now be digitized on request.” But she does not consider this a good alternative to exchanges for thesis students. “A request costs quite a lot of money and you have to be lucky to find a very helpful archivist.”
Eva does not recognize Bennema’s image of a one-sided Israeli academic environment. “I had a lecturer in Tel Aviv who said we could ask anything about Israel. I’m sure he also answered critical questions.” At the same time, she emphasizes that Bennema studied in a “very different Israel” than today.
“Society has become much harsher.”
Wallet also does not see the situation changing for students anytime soon. “This terrible war,” he sighs, “makes so many things difficult”.
*Eva's name has been changed. Her real name is known to the editors.
