Hamas attacks southern Israel

[Muizer]

This is a transcript in English of a report on the protests at Amsterdam University

Several thousand students and lecturers – including from VU and HvA – gathered this Monday morning in a so-called walk-out on Nieuwe Achtergracht to protest against the ‘disproportionate police violence’ of the past week, to which the UvA administration allegedly exposed them. They also criticize the UvA administration's refusal to sever ties with Israeli institutions and the university’s silence on the situation in Gaza.

From the bridge, where speakers addressed the students and lecturers on both sides of the canal, there were repeated urgent calls for the UvA administration to resign: ‘We demand your resignation!’ Junior sociology lecturer Sam Hamer, one of the organizers, supports this demand but doubts whether it would actually have an effect.

‘The people who are eligible to be in a new administration are probably just as unwilling as the current board members,’ he says. Therefore, he advocates for more say for students and lecturers at the university.

It appears that the demonstrators are seriously considering the possibility of escalation.

Vandalism

Around a quarter past one, the demonstration became more grim. Hundreds of demonstrators entered the REC-ABCD with much commotion. Some demonstrators, dressed entirely in black, moved through the upper floors of building ABCD. Others stayed in the hall, where they set up tents, knocked over plant pots, and shouted out the number of a lawyer. The latter is a precautionary measure, the demonstrators explain, ‘in case they get arrested’. It seems the demonstrators are seriously anticipating escalation.

One and a half million in damage

Previous vandalism by student demonstrators has resulted in about 1.5 million euros in damage, according to the UvA. It is still unknown who will pay these costs. Vandalism also occurred on Monday afternoon.

Meanwhile, a journalist and camera crew from the broadcaster PowNed were urged to leave by the demonstrators. Al Jazeera and Nieuwsuur were also hindered from doing their work. All press was declared unwelcome, as announced via megaphone. Shortly thereafter, amid a display of flags, a call for an intifada was made.

Several house rules of the UvA have been violated. Many demonstrators wore face-covering clothing, vandalism occurred, and slogans were chanted, including the often controversial ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’. Security was nowhere to be seen. How the UvA will respond to this is still unknown. Lecturers and students in the occupied building have now been asked to leave. The UvA has announced this in REC-ABCD.

I think that illustrates student protests quite well. There are probably decent people there who just want the institution they are part of to "do something" even if it is a hollow gesture, but they're apparently oblivious of or surprised by the radical element they are associating themselves with.

[Lord Thesaurian]

Nobody likes to be lectured, but history matters. Who is misinformed?

The majority of protesters you consider historians profess support for far right theocratic terrorists warring in opposition to my country and its ally. They are either historically misinformed, or my self-described enemies, or both. It necessarily requires a fair amount of misinformation to believe these same people are in fact the good guys and they don’t mean what they say and do. Meanwhile every random Israeli ever quoted as saying “death to Palestine” is supposed to be complicit in the moral travesty that is their collective existence because “history” or because another Jew said something bad about them. If history education is at issue here, perhaps these protestors rioting every election season over the latest fashionable outrage can learn about oppressed ethnic groups in China, Russia or Iran so these can be added to the “anti imperialist national liberation struggles” for a change. Or maybe they already know why only countries aligned with the US are worth vandalizing university campuses over.

Who is Sarah Streyder

I don’t know, and I doubt you do either, but suffice to say her marriage to a US service member does not preclude hostility to US interests and our allies.

I think that illustrates student protests quite well. There are probably decent people there who just want the institution they are part of to "do something" even if it is a hollow gesture, but they're apparently oblivious of or surprised by the radical element they are associating themselves with.

I can only speak from an American perspective, but when 63% of student protesters and 40% of students here admit to supporting Hamas, it’s safe to say naïveté is not an accurate description of what’s going on. Anyone remotely aware of the issue knows Hamas is a radical element.

[Siblesz]

The majority of protesters you consider historians profess support for far right theocratic terrorists warring in opposition to my country and its ally. They are either historically misinformed, or my self-described enemies, or both. It necessarily requires a fair amount of misinformation to believe these same people are in fact the good guys and they don’t mean what they say and do. Meanwhile every random Israeli ever quoted as saying “death to Palestine” is supposed to be complicit in the moral travesty that is their collective existence because “history” or because another Jew said something bad about them. If history education is at issue here, perhaps these protestors rioting every election season over the latest fashionable outrage can learn about oppressed ethnic groups in China, Russia or Iran so these can be added to the “anti imperialist national liberation struggles” for a change. Or maybe they already know why only countries aligned with the US are worth vandalizing university campuses over.

I don’t know, and I doubt you do either, but suffice to say her marriage to a US service member does not preclude hostility to US interests and our allies.

I can only speak from an American perspective, but when 63% of student protesters and 40% of students here admit to supporting Hamas, it’s safe to say naïveté is not an accurate description of what’s going on. Anyone remotely aware of the issue knows Hamas is a radical element.

It's hard to argue about Hamas being a radical group when the IDF are committing a genocide on live tv for everyone to see...

[Lord Thesaurian]

It's hard to argue about Hamas being a radical group when the IDF are committing a genocide on live tv for everyone to see...

It’s harder to argue the term genocide could retain significance if any war involving ethnic conflict, high civilian casualties, food shortages and mass displacement qualifies as such. In any case, Hamas’ extremism is not a function of what sort of label can be put on the IDF. The most sustainable way the latter can comply with international pressure to prevent a situation prone to atrocities is to accomplish its objectives and eliminate the political and military capabilities of jihadists in Gaza and the West Bank. For a country its size, it is more daunting a task ahead of Israel than anything the US attempted in Iraq or Afghanistan. Yet, as Hamas proved on 10/7, it is as critical a national security priority as any Islamist terror threat we faced at the turn of the century.