A 22-year-old Palestinian student from Gaza has been temporarily suspended from Maastricht University after posting an Instagram video in which he watched footage of Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7 massacre and told the camera, “That’s me,” according to local news site De Nieuwe Ster Maastricht.
The student, identified as Hussein Issa, later deleted the video.
Dutch authorities said there is currently no evidence that Issa was actually one of the terrorists appearing in the footage he was watching.
The case nevertheless prompted a political outcry in the Netherlands. Far-right leader Geert Wilders called for Issa to be deported and also demanded that the country’s education minister face prosecution.
Issa arrived in the Netherlands only several months ago and enrolled at Maastricht University. According to the report, the university helped bring him to the country, submitting an application on April 8 for a provisional residence permit, known as an MVV. The Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service approved the request.
Gaza student in Netherlands posts Instagram video of himself watching Hamas terrorists during Oct. 7 massacre
The Instagram video was filmed while Issa was sitting with friends at student housing.
It was posted on the same day that a large pro-Palestinian demonstration was held in Maastricht under the slogan “Cut ties with Israel! End complicity in genocide, occupation and apartheid.”
Organizers of the demonstration accused Western governments, institutions and companies of continuing to support Israel militarily, economically, academically and culturally amid the war in Gaza and Israel’s presence in the West Bank, and called for those ties to be severed.
According to De Nieuwe Ster Maastricht, Issa has also posted videos on social media from several locations around Maastricht, including near the city’s Sint-Lambertus Church.