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Spokesperson for Maastricht University says recently safety concerns led to restriction on all ‘external speakers’ on ‘Gaza/Israel’

A university in the Netherlands canceled a lecture by U.S. Jewish student advocate Shabbos Kestenbaum this week while allowing another event with a Palestinian photojournalist to go on.

It “shows hypocrisy and taking sides,” a member of the Dutch Union of Jewish Students told The College Fix via phone Wednesday.

Kestenbaum, (pictured) a 2024 Harvard University graduate, was scheduled to speak Monday at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. He recently settled a lawsuit with Harvard over its alleged failures to protect Jewish students from antisemitism.

Last week, Maastricht University informed the Jewish student union that the lecture had to be cancelled. A university spokesperson defended the decision, citing a new policy limiting events on “Gaza/Israel” due to safety concerns.

But Jewish student leaders accused the institution of double-standards. They pointed to a talk Wednesday on campus by pro-Palestinian photojournalist Mohammed Alzanoon about his experiences in Gaza.

“The policy was only enforced for our event,” Kestenbaum told The Fix.

The Jewish student union did find an alternative site off campus where Kestenbaum gave his lecture Tuesday. But the students’ frustration with the university continues.

“The universities have been lying to their students for forever now, and they have continuously disregarded their Jewish community’s safeties,” a Jewish student union representative told The Fix.

COWARDS:

The Dutch Union of Jewish Students invited me to give a lecture at the University of Maastricht next week.

The students just informed me the University has suddenly cancelled the lecture due to “security concerns.”

I have offered to provide my own security at no… pic.twitter.com/UnORDq9ZSU

— Shabbos Kestenbaum (@ShabbosK) May 14, 2025

The Dutch Union of Jewish Students organized the event as part of a month-long series of talks at universities across the country.

Last week, however, Maastricht University informed the students that their event was cancelled due to “security concerns,” union members told The Fix. The students asked not to be named due to fears about being targeted.

“The lecture was cancelled on May 13th, 6 days prior to the event. The reason this date was picked was because on May 12th, pro-Palestine organizations hosted a Palestinian Arts & Culture event with outside speakers,” a Jewish leader told The Fix in a statement via email on behalf of the union. “This way the cancellation occurred a day after their event and theirs were allowed to continue.”

The May 12 pro-Palestinian event would have “completely violated” the university’s new policy, another student said.

“The fact that they would inform [us] one day after that event would have taken place already shows hypocrisy and taking sides,” the student told The Fix via phone.

What’s more, on Wednesday, the Jewish students said the university allowed the talk by pro-Palestinian photojournalist Mohammed Alzanoon to go on.

When asked about this, the university spokesperson told The Fix the event was allowed because Alzanoon is a Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study fellow who receives funding from Maastricht University, and therefore is a “UM speaker and not a ‘external speaker.’”

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The new policy, published May 15, cites recent problems with pro-Palestinian protesters, including an event hosted by the Jewish student union in March that “ended early” due to safety concerns.

Additionally, on Tuesday morning, pro-Palestinian protesters “blocked entrances” to the university Faculty of Law building, according to a statement on its website. By the afternoon, the building was “fully accessible again,” the university stated.

“UM has decided to exercise special caution in the coming period when it comes to allowing and/or facilitating events with a strong political character and with external speakers relating to the situation in Gaza/Israel,” the policy states.

Administrators will consider facility use requests on a case-by-case basis, according to the new policy.

“Because of this tentative policy, we decided – much to our regret – that we could not make space available for the application on behalf of a lecture by Mr. Kestenbaum,” university spokesperson Koen Augustijn told The College Fix in an email Tuesday.

The Jewish student leaders who spoke with The Fix acknowledged the security concerns are legitimate.

“… on March 12th we had hosted Rawan Osman on campus and student groups such as Free Palestine Maastricht and Erev Rav caused such a commotion that we were ordered to end the event early since ‘the crowd outside was getting out of control,’” one leader said via email.

“The university’s decision was not to punish the perpetrators, but instead the victims knowing that we will not inflict any harm or violence upon them. The university decided to give into terrorism instead of protecting the safeties and freedoms of their Jewish student community,” the representative said.

Echoing this, Kestenbaum criticized Maastricht’s president, Rianne Letschert, not doing enough to stop the “violence and harassment” directed at Jewish students, calling her an “embarrassment” to her country and to higher education.

“I spoke with the Jewish student body at the university, and their stories and experiences are shocking,” he told The Fix in a text message Tuesday.

Kestenbaum said Letschert should resign from her position on the national antisemitism taskforce.

“The university should grow a spine and punish the perpetrators rather than disenfranchise the free speech of Jewish students,” he said.

“Let’s be clear: Jewish students play by the rules,” he told The Fix. “We do not disrupt lectures, send death threats, or pull fire alarms. The same cannot be stated about the other side. Why should we be punished for their illiberal and undemocratic methods?”

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IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Jewish student advocate Shabbos Kestenbaum. LivingL’chaim/YouTube

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