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Statement concerning the allegations against the Department of Architecture in an article in Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 19.3.24

On March 19, 2024, Neue Zürcher Zeitung published an article entitled: “Israelhass in der Architektenszene – ETH-Mitarbeiter feiern den 7. Oktober und unterzeichnen offene Briefe von Hamas-Freunden” with the header “Nach der Hamas-Attacke vom 7. Oktober 2023 ist deutlich geworden: Das Architekturdepartement der ETH Zürich hat sich zu einem Hotspot für wissenschaftlich verbrämten Antisemitismus entwickelt” ["Israel hatred in the architecture scene - ETH employees celebrate October 7 and sign open letters from Hamas friends: After the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, it has become clear: The Department of Architecture at ETH Zurich has become a hotspot for scientifically disguised anti-Semitism"]. The article by Stephan Trüby, Professor of Architecture Theory at the University of Stuttgart, is based mainly on the enumeration of support of open letters and on decontextualized statements on social media by members of the Department of Architecture. The main target, besides the Parity Group and Professor Anne Holtrop is Professor Samia Henni, currently Visiting Professor of the Theory of Architecture at our institute. We consider the article an attack on Samia Henni’s academic integrity and personal safety as well as damaging to the reputation of the Department of Architecture and our Institute.

Samia Henni’s name is mentioned eight times, combined with false facts and omissions. In the following, we respond to these. Under the subtitle “In Praise of Yasir Arafat” (“Loblied auf Yasir Arafat”), the content of her book Architecture of Counterrevolution: The French Army in Northern Algeria (Zurich, gta Verlag, 2017, open access 2022) is distorted and wrongly cited. The book, which has won several awards and has been translated into French, is based on her dissertation, submitted to the Department of Architecture in 2016 and awarded the ETH Medal. The dissertation was supervised by Prof. Philip Ursprung and co-supervised by Prof. Tom Avermaete and the late (Jewish) architectural historian Prof. Jean-Louis Cohen.

The article claims that Henni, a “theoretician of architecture, stemming from Algeria” – in fact, she is a historian of architecture, not theoretician, and the article omits that she is a Swiss citizen – “is struggling with the existence of Israel” (tue “sich mit der Existenz Israels schwer”) because she signed the international “Call for immediate Action” of November 14, 2023 together with 26 other members of ETH. In fact, the call asked for a ceasefire and criticizes the actions of the Israeli army, but did not imply any restriction on the state of Israel's right to exist.

The article claims that “the expulsion of 900,000 Jews in the Islamic region, on the other hand, is not even mentioned” in the book. (“Die Vertreibung von 900.000 Jüdinnen und Juden im islamisch geprägten Raum würdigt sie dagegen keines Wortes”). In fact, the book is about colonial and military architecture in Algeria, not about expulsions.

The article claims that Henni “blurs the considerable differences between Nazi concentration camps and French ‘camps de regroupement’” (“Darin verwischt sie die beträchtlichen Unterschiede zwischen nationalsozialistischen Konzentrationslagern und französischen ‘Camps de regroupement’”). In complete contrast to the suggestion that she relativizes the concentration camps in her book or equates them with the ‘camps de regroupement’, Samia Henni reconstructs the history of the latter term in French military literature and documents, as the book states, retracing “the legacies between the French fascist regime and the French colonial regime.” (p. 12, p. 24).

The article claims that “Arab Jews ... are even subsequently expatriated by Henni by categorically distinguishing between ‘Jews’ and ‘Algerians’” (“Arabische Juden … werden bei Henni sogar nachträglich ausgebürgert, indem sie kategorisch zwischen ‘Juden’ und ‘Algeriern’ unterscheidet”). In reality, Samia Henni criticizes in her book that it was the French colonial rulers who introduced this categorical distinction in 1870. (p.98).

The article claims that “Henni's suppression of Arab anti-Semitism is typical of post-colonial research with an anti-Israel bias” (“Hennis Verdrängung des arabischen Antisemitismus ist typisch für postkolonial motivierte Forschungen mit Anti-Israel Schlagseite”). This remark lacks any factual basis.

The article claims: “The book ends with a eulogy to former PLO chairman Yasir Arafat, whom Henni puts on a par with Nelson Mandela” (“Das Buch endet mit einer Lobrede auf den ehemaligen PLO-Vorsitzenden Yasir Arafat, den Henni auf eine Stufe mit Nelson Mandela stellt”). Arafat is mentioned once in the book. The passage reads: “The Algerian Revolution and its revolutionary strategies and tactics became a model - both during and after the revolution - for a number of other anticolonial movements and struggles around the world, including for the Palestine Liberation Organization led by Yasser Arafat and the African National Congress in South Africa led by Nelson Mandela.” (p. 294).

Not Samia Henni, we would like to add, but the Nobel Prize Committee has put Arafat and Mandela on the same level by awarding each of them the Nobel Peace Prize (1993 and 1994).

The article claims: “recently ETH visiting professor Samia Henni attracted attention by speaking publicly of a ‘Zionist killing machine’.” (“jüngst fiel die ETH-Gastprofessorin Samia Henni damit auf, dass sie öffentlich von einer ‘zionistischen Killermaschine’ sprach”). The article does not say where and when she is supposed to have used this expression publicly. It is an insinuation.

The article claims that Samia Henni “attracted attention” with “one-sided events” at Cornell University. (“mit einseitigen Veranstaltungen” “auffiel”). In reality, she had organized an online lecture series as a professor at Cornell University, within which a member of the university staff had intervened with a chat during the lecture by Israeli professor Ariella Aïsha Azoulay (Brown University). This intervention led to a letter of protest against the restriction of academic freedom, signed by a number of ETH members, among others. The lecture series did not trigger “protests”, as the article claims. On the contrary, the Cornell University administration subsequently wrote to Prof. Henni and Prof. Azoulay to apologize.

In addition to Samia Henni's book, the article also mentions the online library developed by a doctoral student at our institute. The library is open access and open source and features historical documents on the recent history of Palestine. It is one of the first archives relating to the often violent history of urbanism in the Palestinian Territories. The article’s depiction of a cover included in the library with the title “Glory to the warriors who destroyed the tanks of the Fascist units” (“Ruhm den Kämpfern, welche die Panzer der faschistischen Einheiten vernichtet haben”) suggests that this is current propaganda. The article omits the fact that it is a cover from 1970 and that the title is about Jordanian, not Israeli, tanks.

Like academic freedom, the freedom of the press is to be protected. Journalists and academics have the right to freedom of expression. Polemical exaggeration is legitimate for newspaper articles and ideological differences should also be discussed in the media. In our opinion, however, the article disregards academic and journalistic principles by arguing with factually incorrect assertions, misrepresenting research results, and spreading defamation. We fully stand with our colleague Samia Henni.

Prof. Tom Avermaete, Prof. Maarten Delbeke, PD Dr. Anne Hultzsch, Prof. Laurent Stalder, Prof. Philip Ursprung