Dutch university suspends Palestinian student who claimed involvement in Oct. 7

Maastricht University in the Netherlands has suspended a Palestinian student who posted a video claiming involvement in the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, the university’s Observant Online outlet reported on Sunday.

In the video, which went viral on social media last week, the student watches Qatar’s Al Jazeera outlet airing Hamas propaganda. He then points at the screen, gives a thumbs-up and shouts, “7 October. This is me.”

Maastricht University decided to ban the student from entering university buildings, as well as bar him from attending classes or sitting for exams, Observant Online reported.

A university spokesperson told the outlet it acted out of “concern for the safety of the student himself, fellow students and staff” and said the measure should not be construed as punishing the student.

The university is not investigating the post or the student’s claim, but will talk with him, spokesman Koen Augustijn said.

The student is one of more than 40 Palestinians from Gaza who were invited by the Dutch government to come to the Netherlands this summer to study or work.

Dutch lawmaker Diederik Boomsma of the right-wing JA21 party on Sunday called for the student to be deported and handed over to Israel to stand trial.

“This kid claims involvement in Oct. 7. Was he even screened?” Boomsma wrote on X.

Boomsma, his party’s spokesman on asylum and migration, accused universities of bringing “Gazan terror scum” to the Netherlands. He said some schools had even applied for asylum on their behalf, calling it “next-level malicious stupidity.”

He urged the government to stop issuing provisional residence visas.

A Dutch Holocaust researcher, Amanda Kluveld, told JNS last year she was facing serious threats and intimidation after standing up for Jewish students at Maastricht University.

Kluveld, a longtime critic of on-campus anti-Israel groups, said in an interview that her attempt to film an antisemitic protest outside a classroom led to a concerted effort to push her out.

Since Oct. 7, Kluveld has faced increasing threats to her safety—both on the Maastricht University campus and at home—due to her vocal support of the Jewish state, the Holocaust scholar said.

“I have to take certain safety measures, and at my workplace, certain measures have been taken,” she told JNS. “I’m no longer able to enter my office; nameplates have been removed; I’ve been almost completely removed from the website; my digital existence was almost erased.”

The threats have extended beyond the campus, with dead pigeons—sometimes beheaded and with their hearts removed—left on her vehicle and blood smeared on the car doors, as well as online threats, she said.

In related news, Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten was rushed off stage by his security detail on Sunday after pro-Hamas activists briefly disrupted his speech at his Democrats 66 party’s congress in Amsterdam.

Five protesters set off a loud alarm shortly after Jetten began speaking, promoting the Royal and Diplomatic Protection Service to move him offstage, according to Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad.

The demonstrators, who wore shirts that read, “Less selfies, more sanctions,” chanted slogans including “D66 has blood on its hands,” the paper reported. Security guards removed them from the hall.

Jetten initially tried arguing with the demonstrators, telling them he shared their concerns about the war in the Gaza Strip.

The premier returned to the stage after a few minutes and restarted his speech. “This is part of it too, especially in a country where freedom of expression is important,” he said, according to De Telegraaf.

Afterward, Jetten told reporters the protesters had acted in a “respectful way.”

Earlier on Sunday, masked protesters stood outside the venue holding a “We support Hamas” banner as police looked on, De Telegraaf reported. The activists also waved a flag of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist group.