To the Executive Board of Design Academy Eindhoven,

We, the students and employees of Design Academy Eindhoven, are writing to express our deep concern and disapproval at Design Academy Eindhoven’s indifference and silence in the face of the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Two years ago, two open letters from students and employees made demands to the school (https://www.d-act.org/openletter.html and ipetitions.com/petition/calling-on-dae-to-show-sol...) and we have not yet seen our demands met or, at minimum, addressed. Today, we set out to apply this pressure again, and update the terms of our demands.

On September 16, 2025, the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territories stated officially for the first time that Israel’s acts in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide. The commission concluded that Israel’s conduct satisfies both the physical acts and mental intent elements of genocide under the 1948 Genocide Convention.

Despite this ruling, and the previous ruling of the International Court of Justice on January 26th 2024, DAE has continued to remain silent.

In the past week, a member of DAE’s own teaching staff, Kostas Lambridis, was illegally abducted by the Israeli Occupational Forces while trying to open a humanitarian corridor to the people of Gaza on board the Freedom Flotilla. While other schools in the region who had members of their own staff taken hostage were quick to share awareness and pressure their governments for their release, once again, the Design Academy has remained silent.

The Academy defines itself as a school where design is taught as “a tool for social and political activity”. We urge the school not to consume activism as a gimmick or a token, but as an integral part of the school’s approach to design and its position in the global design scene, especially when it is urgently needed.

We, the student body, find DAE entirely apolitical in its stance towards the genocide and illegal occupation of Palestine, and make the following demands to the Executive Board:

● Immediately produce a formal public statement condemning the genocide of Palestinians by the IDF, express solidarity with the universities and teachers in Gaza and Palestine as a whole.

● Demand the immediate release of DAE tutor Kostas Lambridis, and the ten Dutch participants of the Global Sumid Flotilla for Gaza, who remain detained in Israel's Ketziot Prison in the Negev Desert.

● Cut all ties with Israeli institutions that are complicit in genocide, apartheid and occupation of Palestine. And endorse boycotts on Israel following the guidelines of the movement for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions.

● Update all public facing information on exchange programmes to make it clear that DAE has frozen its programme with Belzalel Academy of Art and Design and Shenkar College.

● Create emergency fellowships for researchers, educators and students from Gaza and other parts of Palestine, to support those who would like to work or study in the Netherlands.

● Initiate ties with a Palestinian art school, Dar al-Kalima University.

● Put pressure on DDW to cut ties with any financial sponsors complicit in genocide, such as Rabobank and Brainport. In 2024, Rabobank invested 1,6 billion US dollars in companies that are active in or have trade relations with Israeli settlements of the West Bank. Brainport (TU/e, ASML, Philips, DAF and VDL) also hold relations with Israel, supplying materials or have been linked to the Israeli Military Industrial complex. As one of the most respected institutions at Dutch Design Week, DAE holds significant cultural power and visibility. With that comes the responsibility to act. By taking a principled stance, DAE can set a precedent for ethical engagement within the design world and push DDW toward accountability and justice.

Please sign with your name and relation to the school (employee/student/alumni)