Barred Palestinian activist might still give speech at Nijmegen university protest
The controversial Palestinian activist Mohammed Khatib will still speak at Radboud University in Nijmegen on Monday, lecturer Harry Pettit, the organizer of the address, wrote on X. “He will not be silenced,” Pettit said, referring to the Dutch government barring Khatib access to the Netherlands.
Khatib will speak at 1:00 p.m. during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in front of Radboud University’s Spinoza building, Pettit said.
Radboud University told Trouw that it was “not familiar” with the exact plan, but was keeping an eye on it. According to the university, Khatib can’t enter the Netherlands so the only real possibility is an address via video screen. “We are following the developments and trying to interpret them as best as possible,” the spokesperson said.
Khatib, who lives in Belgium, is controversial for expressing support for the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 last year. Hamas killed 1,139 people in that attack. It sparked a vicious retaliation from Israel. In just over a year, Israel has killed 42,924 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including at least 16,765 children, Al Jazeera reported based on figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Public Health from October 27.
Last week, the Dutch government banned Khatib from entering the Netherlands. Khatib indicated that he planned to appeal against the entry ban, but as far as is known, that summary proceedings have not yet been filed. Neither Khatib nor Pettit were available to comment to Trouw on Sunday evening.
Khatib’s entry ban is not without controversy. The Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND) previously concluded that there was “insufficient legal basis” to declare Khatib an undesirable alien.
