“I was essentially referring to an agreement made with the universities”, said caretaker education minister Gouke Moes (BBB) last Friday evening on the television programme Café Kockelmann.
The universities have agreed in a joint guideline to report suspected criminal offences. And Moes suspects criminal offences.
Amid pro-Palestinian protests in Nijmegen, assistant professor of social geography Harry Pettit tweeted that it was time to finish ‘what the Palestinians started on Oct 7th’. He also believes that Israeli civilians were killed by their own military on 7 October 2023 (fourteen of the 736 civilian casualties of that day may have been killed by friendly fire from the Israeli army, the rest by Hamas militants, EM).
Sacrosanct
Freedom of expression and academic freedom are sacrosanct, Moes said on the talk show. “That is holy.” But, he added, the line is drawn at inciting violence or glorifying violence.
A report has already been filed against Pettit by the pro-Israel centre CIDI, but Moes expects the university to follow suit. He is threatening to take steps on the ‘escalation ladder’. Moes: “Ultimately, I am the guardian of the system, and I am responsible for it.”
For example, he could speak with the Supervisory Board or ask the Inspectorate of Education to look into the matter, he said. He also had several other (unspecified) ‘instruments’ at his disposal.
Insane
In newspaper AD, Pettit called it ‘insane’ that the minister was interfering. He says he is not inciting violence and is therefore not afraid of criminal charges. He does believe that the armed resistance of the Palestinians is justified.
When Moes took office, he himself came under fire for tweets about a rainbow crossing that had been defaced with swastikas. He had called it a shame ‘on both sides’. He has since apologised for that.
