Maastricht University in the Netherlands has temporarily suspended a 22-year-old Palestinian student from Gaza after he posted a video on social media in which he watches footage of the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023, points at masked terrorists on the screen and says, "Seventh of October. This is me," according to a report by Israel's N12 News.
In the video, which was posted to Instagram and later deleted, the student is seen sitting with three other people watching documentation of the attack on Israel. When the masked gunmen appear on screen, he points toward the television, gives a thumbs-up and smiles at the camera. Social media users have identified him as Hussein Issa, though Dutch media report that his identity has not been officially released and the university has not said what he studies.
The video was posted on Saturday, and the university said the post and the follow-up messages it generated caused unrest and could endanger the safety of students and staff. According to Dutch public broadcaster NOS, the student is barred from classes for now, and during the suspension the university will assess whether, and under what conditions, he may continue his studies. The university stressed that it is not authorized to investigate the origin or truthfulness of the video, but said it has a legal responsibility to ensure education can take place without threat or disruption.
The footage was first published by the local news site De Nieuwe Ster Maastricht. De Telegraaf found that the student has roughly 30,000 Instagram followers and regularly posts videos of himself as a freerunner, both in Gaza and in the Netherlands.
The Dutch outlet NieuwRechts reported that the student was brought to the Netherlands only a few months ago at the university's request, and that in September 2025 Maastricht University awarded full scholarships to five Gaza students to study in the Netherlands. A member of IJAR, the Jewish student association in Maastricht, warned at the time of possible security risks.
Peter Malcontent, a university lecturer specializing in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, told the AD newspaper the video was extremely stupid and reprehensible, and said it could affect the debate over Palestinian students in the Netherlands.
The incident is likely to intensify scrutiny of how European universities vet students admitted from Gaza, where Hamas carried out the October 7 attack that killed some 1,200 people in Israel and saw 251 taken hostage.
