18.04.24
Editorial Note
IAM reported recently that a group of twenty Israeli academics joined some 1,000 scholars from around the world who signed a letter calling US President Joe Biden to stop arming Israel in its current war with Hamas. The letter suggested that Israel is conducting a “plausible genocide.”
One of the signatories was Dr. Regev Nathansohn, who teaches communications at Sapir College. Shortly after the letter was published, hundreds of Sapir College students signed a petition asking the administration to fire Nathansohn. “We will not tolerate educators who incite and call for a boycott against our country, as well as those who slander our soldiers,” the students wrote.
In response to the academics’ letter to Biden, Sapir College said, “We forcefully condemn the rhetoric against IDF soldiers and take very seriously the offense felt by the students… We must clarify beyond any doubt: The petition, and its signatories, do not represent Sapir in any way… While upholding basic principles of academic freedom and free speech, which the college has respected since its founding, the college unequivocally directed the lecturer not to use the name of the college in personal and/or political contexts and that he doesn’t represent the college in these contexts.”
After discussions with the College administration, Nathansohn agreed to take unpaid leave. But he stated, “They presented me with a mafioso-like choice: either go back to teaching without protections and with more limited freedom of speech, or remain on unpaid leave that dramatically affects my livelihood.”
Prof. Neve Gordon, who chairs the Academic Freedom Committee of the anti-Israel group British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES), rushed to support Nathanson. Gordon is a decades-long pro-Palestinian activist, formerly from Ben Gurion University, who was recruited by Queen Mary University of London to teach and research anti-Israel themes. To recall, Gordon has called for the boycott of Israel on the pages of the Los Angeles Times in 2009. In 2004, Gordon was invited to Sabbatical by the pro-Palestinian Nezar Alsayyad, an Arab professor at UC Berkeley, to write his book Israel’s Occupation, which, among others, claimed that the Israeli government runs an Orwellian-style surveillance state.
Gordon declared that Sapir College breached Nathansohn’s academic freedom. He urged the College to: “Publicly reaffirm its commitment to the academic freedom and freedom of expression of all its academic staff and students; Issue a public statement rejecting the calls for Dr. Nathansohn’s dismissal and supporting his academic freedom and freedom of expression; Ensure Dr. Nathansohn’s physical and mental well-being in line with the College’s duty of care; Offer Dr. Nathansohn paid leave until the atmosphere among students and faculty is one in which he feels he can safely conduct his teaching.”
Two additional cases renewed the debate on freedom of speech and academic freedom.
The first, as IAM reported recently, pertained to Prof. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian of the Hebrew University Law Faculty, who said in an interview, “yes it’s time to abolish Zionism; this is where I’m going today, just abolish Zionism. Well, it can’t continue… it’s criminal. Only by abolishing Zionism, we can continue… The state of Israel is using women’s bodies to play with in political terms… we don’t see women coming out and saying what happened… it’s shame on the state to use women’s bodies and sexuality to promote political agendas… to promote further dispossession of land to promote further killing, to promote abuse and rape and you know keep in mind that the rapability of the Palestinians based on the Zionist agenda… the state, they will use everything to further kill, it’s a killing machine and it’s a necro, political regime that can survive only on the erasure of Palestinians… soldiers today getting into Palestinian homes using the laundry, playing with it using and laughing and putting it on tanks and putting it on rifles, what is it, what is this if it’s not sexual abuse?… the body of the Palestinian, the living body, the dead body, the cut to pieces body, are all capital in the hands of this Zionist entity and of course they will use any lie, they started with babies, they continued with rape, they will continue with million other lies, every day with another story, we stopped believing them. I hope that the world will stop believing them.” After a rather perfunctory apology, Shalhoub-Kevorkian was allowed to teach.
The second case involves Dr. Anat Matar, a philosopher at Tel Aviv University, which IAM has reported on numerous times. Matar had recently provoked controversy after she had eulogized Walid Daqqa, a terror-convicted prisoner, on her personal Facebook page. She called Daqqa a “dear friend” upon hearing of his death. She wrote, “Peace be upon you, dear and beloved friend. You were and will be an endless source of inspiration. My heart goes out to you, Sanaa and Milad. With Asad and the whole family. And with the entire Palestinian People, who today lost one of their most excellent sons.” Daqqa was the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner who died from cancer on April 7, after 37 years in Israeli prison. He had been involved in planning the 1984 abduction of soldier Moshe Tamam, who was killed by his kidnappers. Daqqa became a writer and befriended several Israeli intellectuals. Matar, a long-time radical leftwing activist, began exchanging letters with him after founding the Israeli Committee for Palestinian Prisoners in the early 2000s.
Ariel Porat, the President of Tel Aviv University, announced that TAU will not fire Matar. In a letter, Porat wrote: “The university administration condemned Dr. [Anat] Matar’s conduct. However, it also added that she had done nothing illegal, and we therefore do not intend to sack her… Put another way: by law, in the State of Israel, free expression also covers pronouncements that are infuriating, hurtful, and insensitive, whether you like it or not.”
Not surprisingly, a heated debate on academic freedom occurred in the Academia IL Network. One comment is typical of Israeli academics. Prof. Uriel Procaccia of the Hebrew University Faculty of Law wrote: “I would like to draw attention to the differences in the reactions of our university administration and the administration of Tel Aviv University. In both cases opinions were voiced without a trace of illegality, expressing identification, explicit or implicit, with the struggle of the Palestinian people against the thugs of the occupation. In the first case, it was the statements of Professor Nadera Shalhoub, some of whom accused her of Arab nationalism, and in the second case, it was the statements of Dr. Anat Matar, who paid tribute to a personal Palestinian friend of hers who died in prison. In the first case, Our Rector and President expressed themselves in a condescending way. In the second case, Tel Aviv University President, Professor Ariel Porat, wisely put the accusers in their place and stood up for the principle of freedom of speech and the discourse ceased to be taken for granted, even in cases where the discourse is infuriated by these or other personalities who wish to withdraw Israel to the time of the infamous Senator McCarthy.”
Israeli academics expect unlimited academic freedom and freedom of speech. Research commissioned by IAM in 2014, comparing academic freedoms with the US, UK, and Germany, found that Israeli academics enjoy unprecedented academic freedom. More to the point, many academic activists have abandoned the disciplines they were hired to teach and research, to concentrate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As IAM noted, students enrolled in departments where faculty took up the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the expense of their areas of expertise, were deprived of a sound professional education.
The comparative research also emphasized that scholars in public universities (supported by taxpayers’ money) have an unlimited right to academic freedom. In Israel, almost all research universities are public, a fact that is rarely mentioned.
This situation increases the public perception that the social science departments operate in a radical leftist elitist bubble supported by the public coffer.
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‘WE WON’T TOLERATE EDUCATORS WHO BOYCOTT OUR COUNTRY’Israeli academics slammed for signing letter accusing Israel of ‘plausible genocide’Two dozen members of academia call on the US to stop arming Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza; students from the country’s devastated south demand their firing
By ASAF ELIA-SHALEV14 April 2024, 9:38 pm
JTA — A lecturer at an Israeli university is going on unpaid leave after students demanded he be fired for signing a petition that claims Israel “appears to” be guilty of genocide.
Regev Nathansohn, who teaches communications at Sapir College, is one of two dozen Israeli academics who have signed a petition calling for the United States to stop arming Israel in its war with Hamas. The petition, which more than 1,000 academics from around the world have signed, characterizes Israel’s conduct as a “plausible genocide.”
“President Biden, do not let the United States go down in history as the enabler of genocide,” said the petition, which has more than 1,000 signatories, from a group called Academics4Peace. “Respect the US’s obligation under international law and basic morality. The only way to stop the starvation of two million people, including 100+ Israeli hostages, is to end this war.”
Sapir is located on the Gaza border near the town of Sderot, which was one of the sites attacked in Hamas’s October 7 invasion of Israel that saw 1,200 people butchered and 253 abducted to the Gaza Strip, roughly 130 of whom are still in Hamas hands.
Many of the school’s students and staff hail from the area, and hundreds of its students signed a letter asking the college administration to fire Nathansohn for signing the petition. Israel rejects accusations of genocide and says it takes measures to avoid civilian casualties.
“We will not tolerate educators who incite and call for a boycott against our country, as well as those who slander our soldiers,” said the students’ letter.
Nathansohn has not been fired. But the school released a statement to the press condemning the petition, distancing Sapir from its content and saying it had instructed him not to use his academic affiliation while making political statements. Since then, Nathansohn and the administration have fought over what the college owes one of its faculty members, whether and how he should be protected and, more broadly, how far academic freedom should extend.
Nathansohn, who earned his doctorate at the University of Michigan, is one of at least five Israeli signatories who have faced intense backlash from students, according to the petition’s organizer, Shira Klein, an Israeli American history professor at Chapman University in California. She said the others are Eran Fisher of the Open University of Israel, and three scholars at Beersheba’s Ben Gurion University: Michal Givoni, Maor Zeev-Wolf and Uri Mor. Klein pointed to posts from students denouncing them on social media and in an online petition, as well as, in one case, a campus protest.
In total, more than 20 Israeli academics have signed the letter, among more than 1,000 overall. Outside of Israel, signatories include two Nobel laureates and numerous scholars of the Holocaust and Jewish history. Klein is an expert on the Holocaust and has studied contemporary antisemitism.
The campus conflicts are especially notable in Israel, where institutions of higher education — including Sapir — are one of the few spaces in which Jewish and Arab Israelis interact. Other campus conflicts have erupted in the country since October 7.
“We forcefully condemn the rhetoric against IDF soldiers and take very seriously the offense felt by the students,” Sapir’s statement said. “We must clarify beyond any doubt: The petition, and its signatories, do not represent Sapir in any way.”
It continued, “While upholding basic principles of academic freedom and free speech, which the college has respected since its founding, the college unequivocally directed the lecturer not to use the name of the college in personal and/or political contexts and that he doesn’t represent the college in these contexts.”
Nathansohn said the college should have done more to defend his right to free expression. Following coverage of the students’ letter in the Israeli press, he said he received anonymous phone calls as well as messages from fellow faculty members condemning him.
In a letter to Sapir’s administrators on March 28, Nathansohn wrote that they did not “prevent the creation of a hostile work atmosphere in the college.” He said he could not teach in the spring semester, which was due to begin April 1, and requested a leave of absence.
Administrators understood his email as a request for unpaid leave, said granting a paid leave would not be possible according to the school’s regulations, and offered an unpaid leave of six months, according to correspondence reviewed by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Administrators also rejected his accusations, saying that they had vigorously defended his continued employment on the grounds of academic freedom.
“In recent days, we have unequivocally defended your right to express your opinion as a private citizen, in the face of a range of fronts that we are contending with — from the students’ association to government agencies,” read a letter dated April 1 from Sapir CEO Orna Gigi and its rector, Omri Herzog. The college did not reply to a request for comment from JTA.
Nathansohn eventually agreed to take an unpaid leave, but he did not consider the choice voluntary. He said that the restrictions on using his academic affiliation on petitions were unjust and, if applied only to him, could constitute an illegal double standard.
“They presented me with a mafioso-like choice: either go back to teaching without protections and with more limited freedom of speech, or remain on unpaid leave that dramatically affects my livelihood,” Nathansohn said.
A reporter with Israel’s Channel 14 tweeted the names of the recent petition’s signatories who work at Israeli colleges and universities. The post garnered outrage from many users, some of whom accused the academics of treason.
The petition is the fourth organized by Academics4Peace. The first, which went online in August, prior to the Israel-Hamas war, sought to direct attention to Israel’s treatment of Palestinians amid mass protests against the government’s efforts to weaken the judiciary. The next three have focused on October 7 and its aftermath.
Along with the letters calling for him to face consequences, Nathansohn has received support from a number of academic associations and professors. One fellow academic wrote in an email to Sapir’s leadership that Nathansohn “has been subjected to political persecution and unjust treatment by actors within the Sapir Academic College community and specifically by its management.”
Herzog responded that Sapir has tried to uphold its values in an increasingly challenging environment.
“We’re serv[ing] as a gatekeeper, with all the complexities that you may or may not be aware of,” he wrote. “I’m proud of the work we do in the classrooms and on campus.”
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https://www.brismes.ac.uk/news/letter-to-sapir-college-regarding-dr-regev-nathansohn
Academic Freedom | Letter to Sapir College Regarding Dr Regev Nathansohn
- Posted: 10/04/2024
Professor Nir Kedar
President, Sapir College
Sent by Email: President@sapir.ac.il
Professor Omri Herzog
Rector, Sapir College
Sent by Email: herzog_o@sapir.ac.il
Dear Professors Nir Kedar and Omri Herzog,
I write on behalf of the Academic Freedom Committee of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES) in order to express our profound concern over Sapir College’s response to the vicious campaign waged by Im Tirzu and some Sapir students calling for the dismissal of Dr Regev Nathansohn from the Department of Communications. We are deeply concerned by Sapir College’s failure to adhere to its duty of care towards a member of its academic staff and by the actions it has taken since the campaign was launched, actions which in effect stifle academic freedom.
Founded in 1973, BRISMES is the largest national academic association in Europe focused on the study of the Middle East and North Africa. It is committed to supporting academic freedom and freedom of expression, both within the region and in connection with the study of the region, both in the UK and globally.
We understand that in late March, Dr Nathansohn signed a petition circulated by Academics4Peace entitled ‘Genocide is plausible; stop arms to Israel’. The petition calls on President Biden to respect the US’s obligations under international law and to stop the transfer of all offensive arms and related funds to Israel. On March 27, a group of Sapir students sent a letter demanding Dr Nathansohn’s dismissal, while circulating their letter to several media outlets.
In a response to the Israeli media outlet Ynet, Sapir College stated:
We vehemently condemn statements against IDF soldiers and take seriously the harm experienced by the students. It is important for us to clarify beyond any doubt: the petition and its signatories do not represent Sapir in any way. Many of the students and faculty members at Sapir are survivors of the murderous Sabbath, evacuated from their homes, and serve in the military reserves and security forces, and we strengthen their hand. Alongside the basic value of academic freedom and freedom of expression, which the college has been enshrining since its foundation, we made it unequivocally clear to the lecturer that he cannot use the college’s name in personal and/or political contexts, and he does not represent the college in these contexts.
We understand that alongside the media coverage there were incitements against Dr Nathansohn in online student forums, that his personal phone number was circulated among Im Tirtzu members and as a result he began receiving unsolicited phone calls, and that on the college’s Instagram account there were numerous instances in which Dr Nathansohn was maligned and described as a supporter of terrorism. The college’s Instagram manager ‘liked’ one of these remarks, which read: ‘Regev Nathansohn — Dismiss! Terror Supporter’.
We understand that on March 28 the university approved an unpaid leave of absence for six months, despite the fact that Dr Nathansohn had not requested such a leave. Furthermore, university senior management refused requests from Dr Nathansohn that the university clarify that the petition did not call for the harm of IDF soldiers.
In their response from April 1, Prof. Herzog and Sapir College’s CEO, Ms. Gigi, wrote that it was Dr Nathansohn’s decision to sign the petition, rather than the university’s response, that ‘produced the hostile working environment for [him]’.
While we understand why some Israelis might disagree with the petition circulated by Academics4Peace and may even find it offensive, it is precisely during times of war that academic freedom and freedom of expression are tested and need to be assiduously and robustly protected. It appears to us that the College has become a hostile environment for Dr Nathansohn. Since this is not the only case of a breach of academic freedom–we were told, for example, that Dr Yeela Renan’s teaching hours have been reduced following attacks from right wing students–that has occurred in Sapir College since October 7, we ask the College to:
- Publicly reaffirm its commitment to the academic freedom and freedom of expression of all its academic staff and students;
- Issue a public statement rejecting the calls for Dr Nathansohn’s dismissal and supporting his academic freedom and freedom of expression;
- Ensure Dr Nathansohn’s physical and mental well-being in line with the College’s duty of care;
- Offer Dr Nathansohn paid leave until the atmosphere among students and faculty is one in which he feels he can safely conduct his teaching.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Neve Gordon
Vice President, BRISMES
On behalf of the BRISMES Committee on Academic Freedom
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———- Forwarded message ———
From: Uriel Procaccia
Date: Mon, Apr 15, 2024 at 1:39 PM
Subject: Re: [Academia-IL-Bashaar] תורת המשחקים, אסטרטגיית ההרתעה ומלחמת שבעה באוקטובר
To:
ברצוני להפנות את תשומת הלב להבדלי התגובות של הנהלת האוניברסיטה שלנו והנהלת אוניברסיטת תל אביב. בשני המקרים הושמעו דעות לא נפל בהן שמץ של אי חוקיות, המביעות הזדהות, מפורשת או משתמעת, עם מאבקו של העם הפלסטיני כנגד בריוני הכיבוש. במקרה הראשון, היה מדובר בהתבטאויותיה של פרופסור נדירה שלהוב שיש המאשימים אותה בלאומנות ערבית, ובמקרה השני היה מדובר בהתבטאויותיה של ד”ר ענת מטר שספדה לידיד פלסטיני אישי שלה שמת בכלא. במקרה הראשון התבטאו הנשיא והרקטור שלנו בצורה משתלחת בפרופסור שלהוב, ובמקרה השני השכיל נשיא אוניברסיטת תל אביב, פרופסור אריאל פורת, להעמיד את המקטרגים במקומם ולעמוד על עקרון חופש הדיבור. אוי לנו אם עקרונות חופש הדיבור והשיח חדלו להיות מובנים מאליהם, גם במקרים שהשיח מקומם אישים אלה או אחרים החפצים להסיג את ישראל לתקופתו של סנטור מק-קרתי הידוע לשמצה.
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https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/tel-aviv-university-president-says-school-wont-fire-staffer-who-eulogized-terror-convict/Tel Aviv University president says school won’t fire staffer who eulogized terror convict
By NOAM LEHMANN
15 April 2024, 8:31 pm
Ariel Porat, the president of Tel Aviv University, announces that the institution will not fire a lecturer who had eulogized terror convict Walid Daqqa on her personal Facebook page.
In a letter dated Sunday and addressed to MK Yosef Tayeb, head of the Knesset’s Education Committee, Porat writes: “The university administration condemned Dr. [Anat] Matar’s conduct. However, it also added that she had done nothing illegal, and we therefore do not intend to sack her.”
“Put another way: by law, in the State of Israel, free expression also covers pronouncements that are infuriating, hurtful, and insensitive, whether you like it or not,” says Porat in the letter, which was subsequently sent to TAU students and faculty.
The university president says he received “with shock” Tayeb’s summons to a Monday committee hearing on “campus incitement” following Matar’s post, given the myriad problems facing Israeli society during the Gaza war.
“In this state of affairs, you have no shame in convening a Knesset discussion on an insignificant post by a single lecturer who represents only herself,” writes Porat.
“Are your eyes too shut to see the absurdity of this? Even war flaring up with Iran hasn’t made you cancel the session.”
Porat says he is abroad and will therefore not attend the “outrageous and illegitimate” committee meeting.
“Like other university presidents, I am fundraising to help, first and foremost, our reservists, our students, to whom we owe so much” writes Porat.
Matar, a philosopher of language, had provoked controversy after she called Daqqa a “dear friend” upon hearing of his death.
Daqqa, the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner, died from cancer on April 7 after 37 years in Israeli captivity. He had been involved in planning the 1984 abduction of soldier Moshe Tamam, who was killed by his kidnappers.
Daqqa later expressed regret for his actions and renounced violence. He became a writer and came into contact with several Israeli intellectuals.
Matar, a longtime leftwing activist, began exchanging letters with Daqqa after founding the Israeli Committee for Palestinian Prisoners, alongside his wife, Sanaa, in the early 2000s
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https://www.ynetnews.com/article/hycvnjxgc
Tel Aviv University lecturer eulogizes terrorist Walid Daka as ‘a source of inspiration’
Dr. Anat Matar pays tribute to terrorist who died in prison at age of 62; students will demonstrate, demanding her dismissal; university condemns her words, will investigate whether they’re in breach of freedom of speech policy
Tamar Trabelsi-Hadad|04.10.24 | 10:03
Tel Aviv University students are demanding the dismissal of Dr. Anat Matar, a senior lecturer in the department of philosophy, after she posted on Facebook a heartfelt eulogy for Arab-Israeli terrorist Walid Daka, one of the murderers of soldier Moshe Tamam in 1984.
“Goodbye dear and beloved friend. You were and will be an endless source of inspiration,” the lecturer wrote about Daka, one of the oldest security prisoners held in an Israeli prison, who died of cancer on Sunday at the age of 62. “My heart goes out to you, Sanaa and Milad. With Asad and the whole family. With the entire Palestinian people who lost one of their greatest sons today.”
Her words provoked outrage among many students, who called on the university management to fire her and announced that they would hold a protest at Entin Square. “This is a call to everyone who agrees that the public veneration of a person known for murder on ethnic grounds is a terrible incitement that goes far beyond the limits of freedom of expression,” the students wrote.
One of them, Tamar Cohen, said that she and her friends were shocked by Dr. Matar’s post and that for her it was the “straw that broke the camel’s back” since she had made previous statements against the State of Israel on Facebook and in interviews to international media. “As a student, it is so painful and frightening to see Dr. Anat Matar’s statement. To know that the academic institution I study in, which is supposed to be enlightened and democratic, has a lecturer who openly supports a murderer, makes me feel less safe at the university.”
She expressed disappointment in the conduct of the academic institution. “After Dr. Matar has already expressed herself in such ways in the past, to know that she continues to express herself in an extreme way as a faculty member, especially in this period, is infuriating and insensitive. There are a lot of students in the reserves who are fighting now so that she can continue lecturing, so that we can continue studying,” the student said.
“It’s not a matter of right or left, we’ve all been affected since October 7. Israeli citizens from all sectors, as well as foreign citizens,” Cohen added. “Among the victims are university students who were murdered. I really hope that the university handles this case as soon as possible and that it doesn’t end with a reprimand. I don’t feel safe with a lecturer who expresses herself like that.”
The right-wing organization Btsalmo said that it will file a complaint against the lecturer for violating the rules of discipline, and also a complaint to the police for violation of the terrorism law. “He who is sad that a terrorist died, his ideological and realistic place is with the terrorist,” the organization said in a statement.
“After October 7, anyone who is a friend of the enemy is like an enemy and must pay a very heavy price for it. We will not remain silent in the face of any instigator even if he is mistakenly called a doctor or a professor.”
Matan Jerafi from the right-wing movement Im Tirtzu also expressed outrage at the lecturer’s eulogy for the terrorist. “What message exactly does the university president’s silence convey in the face of this serious statement? We demand the immediate termination of Matar’s employment at Tel Aviv University,” he said.
Tel Aviv University responded in a statement, “Tel Aviv University strongly condemns Anat Matar’s words. This is a private statement outside of the academic framework. It will be examined based on the university’s policy regarding freedom of expression.”
The current storm joins the one that erupted following the statements of Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, a lecturer from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who was suspended after she published a petition that accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. The head of the investigation and intelligence department in the Israel Police, Chief Yigal Ben Shalom, recently recommended to the prosecutor’s office to approve the opening of a criminal investigation against Shalhoub-Kevorkian on suspicion of incitement.
israel-academia-monitor.com 