Dutch chief rabbi asks king to disaffiliate from Royal Academy of Art over Israel boycott

Dutch Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs calls on King Willem-Alexander to disaffiliate the royal house from an academic institution that has cut its ties with Israel.

“Institutions that boast the title of ‘royal’ in their names must not engage in hate campaigns,” Jacobs says in a statement about the Hague-based Royal Academy of Art’s public decision last week to cut its ties with the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem.

Separately, another institution affiliated with the monarchy, the Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam, yesterday canceled concerts scheduled for May 16 and 18 by the Israel-based Jerusalem Quartet.

In a statement, the prestigious concert hall cited security concerns stemming from anti-Israel demonstrators.

The Royal Academy is the first Dutch institution of higher education to sever its ties with Israel, according to the NOS broadcaster, followed by the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, which similarly announced yesterday, as Israel marked Independence Day, that it will no longer cooperate with Israeli institutions, including Bezalel.

Both Dutch institutions cited concerns of alleged human rights violations by Israel and perceived complicity in those alleged violations by Israeli academia.