As part of the "Reclaiming the Narrative" lecture series, organized by DUJS (Dutch Union of Jewish Students), pro-Israeli speakers were invited to deliver guest lectures at various universities in the Netherlands. One of these lectures, by Shabbos Kestenbaum, was scheduled to take place at Maastricht University on May 19. Kestenbaum is a former Harvard University student who sued the elite university, one of the main centers of anti-Israeli protest on U.S. campuses since October 7, for failing to protect Jewish and Israeli students from antisemitic harassment and discrimination. In his lecture, Kestenbaum aimed to share his experiences and insights on fighting antisemitism through strength, visibility, and Jewish pride.
The university delayed approving the lecture, and just days before the scheduled event, notified DUJS that it had decided not to allow the talk to take place citing "security concerns." This decision came in the aftermath of the violent disruption and sabotage of Dr. Rawan Osman's guest lecture this past March. Jewish and Israeli students and faculty members, members of the Jewish community in Maastricht, and other guests who came to the university to hear Osman's lecture were met with violent disruptions and intimidation attempts by rioters who tried to prevent participants from entering the lecture hall. Even after the lecture began, the rioters continued their attempts to disrupt it, constantly pounding on the glass walls of the lecture hall while chanting antisemitic and anti-Israeli slogans. After about 45 minutes, and without any intervention from the police and security forces present, the mayor instructed the university to stop the lecture and escort the participants off campus through the hostile and agitated crowd.
The university leadership agreed to meet with representatives of the victims ñ Jewish and Israeli students and faculty members ñ only a whole week after the riots. The university refused to address their questions and requests for clarification about the decision-making process that led to the cancellation of the event. During the meeting, the university leadership announced the opening of an "independent" investigation into the events. It should be noted that despite the request of Jewish community representatives, Maastricht University refused to involve community members in discussions about the nature of the investigation, the mandate defining the work of the investigators and their powers, as well as the selection of the investigation team. The Jewish community members saw this as an unacceptable structural bias aimed at covering up the failure rather than investigating what happened and bringing those responsible to justice. When community members learned that the investigation committee chairman was a former lawyer whose firm had provided legal services to the university and the municipality, that his secretary was a university employee, and that all of the committee's correspondence with the witnesses it invited was visible to the university, they informed the university that they had lost faith in the impartiality of this investigation and would refuse to cooperate with it.
Four days before Kestenbaum's lecture, the university announced that it had decided to prohibit, "for the coming period," events of a distinctly political nature where external speakers present topics related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It should be noted that Kestenbaum's lecture did not deal with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at all and focused on tools to combat antisemitism, so the university's enforcement of the ban is not justified, even if one accepts the new rules decided upon through a questionable and non-transparent process. Furthermore, while rejecting the request to hold Kestenbaum's lecture, pro-Palestinian organizations continue to organize events on the conflict, hosting external speakers, all without university intervention.
Upon the publication of the university's decision, members of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie, VVD) in the Maastricht City Council submitted urgent questions to the mayor, concerning the university's restriction of Jewish students' freedom of expression. These council members demanded that the municipality allocate an alternative venue where the lecture could take place, and despite the availability of alternative venues at the desired date, the Mayor of Maastricht decided not to approve their use by the Jewish community. It should be noted that the Mayor of Maastricht joined the Amsterdam Mayor's call this week to take a harsher stance toward Israel, and his decision to reject the request continues the consistently hostile line he has shown toward the Jewish community in the city, demonstrated in his response to the violent incidents in March, and even before, since the outbreak of protests against Israel immediately after October 7.
Despite the decision of the university and the municipality to prevent the lecture from taking place, members of the Jewish-Israeli community decided to hold it anyway. After many efforts to find an alternative venue, the lecture organizers received an offer from a local family who offered their home in the city center to allow the event to take place. "When all the official doors closed in our faces," recalls one of the organizers, "all we had left was the solidarity of our friends, which made everything possible." The address was sent to registrants about two hours before the lecture, and 35 participants came to listen to Kestenbaum's presentation. The lecture was a well-constructed presentation of the normalization of antisemitism in universities and how Jewish students in Europe can respond to growing extremism.
According to Kestenbaum, "Silencing controversial voices doesn't make universities safer, it makes them intellectually poorer." Referring to the lawsuit he led against Harvard University, Kestenbaum encouraged students in the Netherlands to use legal channels when their rights are violated or they are denied equal treatment. "If your voice is silenced ñ take it to court!" he said.
A large part of the lecture dealt with coping with protests since October 7. Although he emphasized the clear importance of facts, Kestenbaum reminded participants that "facts alone don't change public opinion." According to him, "what people remember are stories." He encouraged students to speak publicly about their families, their connections to Israel, and their personal experiences ñ especially when dealing with simplistic or hostile narratives. He called on participants not to hide their Jewish identity, even if it is sometimes easier to do so than to face hostility. "Wearing your kippah with pride is not just a statement ñ it's also a form of resistance," he said. He also called on Jewish communities to invest more in youth education, including subsidizing trips to Israel and studies in Jewish schools, so they would be exposed to Jewish history and values. According to him, "We can't expect students to defend what they were never taught."
The evening was more than a lecture ñ it was a statement about visibility, resilience, and the limits of institutional neutrality. As academic institutions across the Netherlands continue to navigate polarization and protest, the question is no longer whether Jewish students feel unsafe ñ but whether universities are willing to take their concerns seriously. So far, universities have preferred to try to appease the violent side, while trampling on the rights of members of the Jewish-Israeli community, dismissing their concerns, and maintaining a complete lack of transparency. The holding of the lecture on schedule serves as a reminder: when institutions fail to protect the Jewish community and ensure its rights, the community and its friends must fill the void themselves.
The author wishes to express his deep gratitude to the family who opened their home and their hearts to the Jewish community in Maastricht.
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