Educational institutions must continue to actively educate students about the horrors of the Holocaust “even during difficult times,” Interim Education Minister Rober Dijkgraf said.
Dijkgraaf noted that Utrecht's HBO College (HU) had postponed a series of lectures on the Holocaust scheduled to begin on February 7, which resulted in protests from politicians and co-sponsor CIDI. Was.
In its initial reaction to the uproar caused by the decision, which was taken just before Sunday's Holocaust memorial service, the university said: “Given the current dynamics, more time is needed to organize a balanced dialogue on this issue. It's necessary.''
“While it is very unfortunate and regrettable that we have to do something like this, we all recognize that the current war between Israel and Hamas will have an impact on these talks. And that impact will be reflected in the dialogue sessions. ,” a university spokesperson said.
However, the university said in a subsequent statement that it had received “signals,” which it did not specify, out of concern for the safety of the speakers and audience.
The university cited criticism by pro-Palestinian group New Neighbors Utrecht and said its decision was not influenced by “comments by activists.”
The Israeli information center CIDI, which helped organize the lecture, said the argument was baseless. “I was in touch with security. hoge school We were told a few days ago that we would need additional personnel, but that was not a problem,” Aline Pennewaard from CIDI told RTV Utrecht.
Utrecht City Council says it is currently discussing how it can work with universities and “other stakeholders” to allow the lecture series to continue at another time.
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