Over 200 MA students, PhD researchers, academic and professional staff, alumni, visiting researchers and retired staff from the International Institute of Social Studies have signed an open letter on the occassion of one year of genocide in Palestine.
The open letter was initiated and drafted by the ISS Palestine committee which was established in 2024 as collective-horizontal initiative following a meeting with ISS rector, Professor Ruard Ganzevoort. It was organized to address the (lack of) position and action by the Institute on Israel's ongoing genocidal assault on Gaza.
The Palestine committee was established with the purpose of following up on some of the ideas and concerns that were raised during that meeting and the steps that can be taken by the ISS community regarding Israel’s ongoing genocidal assault on Gaza.
One of the actions of the committee was to draft this open letter that representatively stated its position and its demands from the ISS management. It was signed by 215 members of the ISS community including masters students, PhD researchers, retired staff, academic and professional staff and alumni.
In response, Professor Ganzevoort and ISS management offered to hold a public meeting with members of the committee and the ISS community to discuss the open letter. Attendants put forward the collective concern regarding the decision taken by the Advisory Committee on Sensitive Collaborations (ACSC) at Erasmus University Rotterdam to assess the academic boycott of Israeli institutions - of which Professor Ganzevoort is chair.
