Petition addressed to:
Rector Jan Danckaert
VUB: end your shameful partnership with Israel's largest arms company now!
During VUB's opening ceremony on 21 September 2025, we were shocked when Rector Danckaert proudly showcased a research project with Optique et Instruments de Précision (OIP), a subsidiary of Israel's largest arms company, Elbit Systems (S_ytb).
According to the VUB Jabalia Hall students Elbit Systems is the industrial arm of the ongoing genocide in Palestine. It supplies approximately 50% of Israel's total equipment, 85% of its air force's drone equipment (including the infamous Hermes 450 drone), and 85% of its army's equipment (S8). Between the beginning of the Israeli military onslaught in Gaza in October 2023 and the end of 2024, 17 export licenses for military goods to Israel were granted to OIP Elbit Systems in Oudenaarde by the Flemish government, for a total value of €22.7 million (S1).
Gaza is in ruins, and the violence is ongoing. The ceasefire is in name only, with at least 241 Palestinians killed since its announcement, while 1,500 more buildings have been destroyed. Meanwhile, the Brussels Photonics group (B-PHOT) at Vrije Universiteit Brussel collaborates with OIP Space Instruments in Oudenaarde for the development of advanced freeform optical components for space applications. Any scientific or other benefits of the collaboration cannot hide OIP-Elbit's responsibility for the genocide of the people in Gaza.
Announcing an Israeli arms company as a major corporate partner after two years of genocide and student mobilizations is a slap in the face. It is hypocritical for the rector to celebrate this partnership just before promising to not sign new agreements with Israeli partners (S10).
VUB, as a progressive university, must support civil society struggling to end the genocide instead of collaborating with genocidal companies. Anuna de Wever, a famous Belgian climate activist, has been prosecuted by OIP. Seven additional activists who participated in a mass action against OIP are being prosecuted in the Oudenaarde District Court by OIP-Elbit, which is claiming damages between €10,000 and €100,000 (S4). These activists' actions force VUB to confront its links to OIP and the genocide. If VUB was not aware of these links, that shows severe incompetence on the part of the ethical committees, which should be addressed. If VUB was aware of it, then the ethical committees are completely invalid.
Our university's complicity must end. We demand that VUB drops this shameful partnership immediately!
Sources:
S1 : https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2025/02/05/wapen-export-israel-belgie-vlaanderen-brussel-wallonie/
S4 : https://stopelbit.be/
S8: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/11/17/israels-weapons-industry-is-the-gaza-war-its-latest-test-lab
S10: https://www.vub.be/en/news/academic-opening-address-2025-2026-rector-jan-danckaert
S_ytb : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz93Yx1ttTA&list=PLkh7rbvMs-Wx7MVaOX-eonusf1OeymOVF&index=7
OIP Elbit makes weapens which are used to watch and kill Palestinian people in what has become the greatest geneocide of the 21st century. We have to stoo them and the VUB needs ro stop collaborating with them!