On the Dutch-speaking university’s leafy campus, students have been demanding for months that the university sever ties with Israeli academia over the Gaza war.
Their movement has borrowed heavily from protests on American campuses, with students setting up encampments and holding daily demonstrations, sometimes using slogans such as “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” that many Jews see as a call for the removal of Israel.
In the United States, the protests took place amid a highly polarized political environment, conflict between students and university authorities, and heated congressional hearings. But the protests at the Free University of Brussels (VUB) in the Belgian capital were more peaceful than at other universities. That’s because of a combination of factors, including a supportive political environment (Belgium is a vocal critic of Israel), a proactive rector, strict protest rules, and, most importantly, a small Jewish community on campus that was uncomfortable with some of the protests but chose not to confront them.
As a result, at a time when like-minded war-spurred protests have brought chaos and violence to university campuses across the United States and Europe, students on the Brussels campus are feeling proud not just of the success of their protest but also of the atmosphere.
“When I look at America and see what’s happening there, it really drives me crazy,” Palestinian protester Rua Khatib said on a recent rainy morning, waking up after a late-night guard shift at the camp.
“When you look at America and see what’s going on there, it’s just crazy,” said Loua, the Palestinian protester. She said she did not want to give her full name for safety reasons.
The contrast between the environment on her campus and the protests students have seen online and on social media is striking, she said. In the United States, pro-Palestinian activism on college campuses has been amplified by widespread media coverage and a presidential election, where the campus confrontations have opened new avenues of attack for the Republican Party and forced President Biden to directly address the issues that are dividing the party.
The Brussels difference Lua said this reflected the political situation in Belgium, whose government has been one of the most vocal critics of Israel’s approach to the Gaza war and was one of the first in the European Union to call for a ceasefire.
But there has been no escape from the fierce debate over the war. Belgium has a sizeable Jewish population and a sizable Muslim minority, mainly of North African descent. Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are widespread, according to a report by a group that focuses on both trends. It has worsened since the October 7 attacks..
At the VUB, students are tasked with guarding their campsite by enforcing a set of rules posted on the walls: drugs and alcohol are banned, as are outsiders, violence, anti-Semitism and hate speech.
Lua praised the university leadership for joining the protests from the beginning. Several pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel students at VUB said the university’s president, Jan Dankaert, began conducting interviews on campus shortly after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. The attack killed about 1,200 people, took more than 200 hostages, according to Israeli authorities, and triggered an aggressive Israeli military response that has left more than 37,000 people dead, according to Gaza health officials.
Pro-Palestinian students have expressed frustration that Dankaert doesn’t do enough to support their cause, while pro-Israel students counter that he should do more to keep the campus neutral and rid it of graffiti and slogans, but both camps credit Dankaert with being considerate of their concerns.
Danckaert allowed the camp but designated a small area on the edge of campus, demanded strict rules for protesters, and, at times at the urging of Jewish students, pushed back against demands and slogans from pro-Palestinian protesters.
In an interview, Danckert said he firmly supports free speech but is strongly opposed to hate. “I believe protests are within the bounds of students’ freedom of expression and freedom of social participation, as long as the actions are peaceful and respectful of others in the university community,” he said.
In the United States, university presidents who tried to avoid getting drawn into controversy or answer questions at congressional hearings have paid the price: losing their jobs.
And there’s the big issue of money. In the United States, students are calling on universities to divest from endowments and investments with ties to Israel and defense companies. In Europe, The university is primarily funded by the state.
This allowed pro-Palestinian student activists at VUB to focus on the idea of an academic boycott and scrutinizing the university’s affiliations with Israeli institutions.
In response to the students’ demands, the university said its ethics committee was reviewing seven projects with Israeli partners and had already indicated it would withdraw from one.
Jouke Huiser, a doctoral student at the VUB, said ending the partnership for ethical reasons was a “courageous step”. Lua and the pro-Palestinian students Movement leaders have urged a broader end to ties with Israeli academic institutions, a demand rejected by Rector Danckert.
“VUB does not advocate a general academic boycott, as we believe it is better to engage in dialogue with critical voices inside Israel,” the university said in a statement last month. “Universities are often places of resistance, or at least offer a critical perspective to the authorities.”
Three Jewish students, who asked not to be identified out of safety concerns, told The New York Times in interviews that while there are only a handful of Jewish students at VUB, there is no organized representative group. Instead, some of the Jewish students spoke to Deckert directly.
Because the university is a completely secular institution, one student said, many Jews choose to attend other schools. The small size of the Jewish community on campus also reflects the fact that most Jews in Brussels speak French and prefer to attend French-speaking universities such as the Free University of Brussels (ULB), located very close to the VUB in Brussels.
The three Jewish students differed on politics, expressing a range of views from mostly pro-Palestinian to generally agreeing with Israeli government policy, but all said slogans such as “Give us back 48” and calls for a “global intifada” were threatening.
Some said that although they feel safe on campus (if sometimes uncomfortable), they feel that the atmosphere of student protests has had its greatest impact outside the VUB, where they believe there is a widespread atmosphere of tolerance for anti-Semitism.
At the nearby Francophone ULB, which has a large Jewish student population, some of its pro-Israel students have engaged in direct confrontations with pro-Palestinian protesters, in at least one instance: Argument That led to the authorities’ intervention.
All three Jewish students interviewed by The Times for this story said they had experienced anti-Semitism on campus both before and since Oct. 7, including through student forums and WhatsApp groups.
Organizers of the VUB protest said they were determined to ensure that their pro-Palestinian message was not confused with anti-Semitism. They also pointed to pro-Palestinian Jewish speakers at the protest and denied suggestions that the slogans they used were anti-Semitic.
“Anti-Semitism is real and Jewish people have faced a lot of hatred over the years and up to the present day.” Lua said.
She said the main aim of the VUB protesters was to end the university’s “complicity” in what they called genocide, a charge Israel strongly denies. “It is not our aim to spread hatred against anyone,” she added.
Koba Rickewaert With assistance from Brussels, Jonathan Rice From Tel Aviv.
