Department of Oppressive Sciences, Hebrew University

This article was published in +972’s newsletter ‘The Landline’.

“A university that promotes diversity and inclusion is a university that promotes equality.” These are among the words that The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, one of the nation’s top academic institutions, uses to describe its university . claimed value And that vision. But the university seemed to have no problem throwing those values ​​out the window last week when it decided: hang Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian is a prominent legal scholar and a Palestinian citizen of Israel.

This scandalous decision was made without due process and came on the heels of the Shalhoub-Kevorkian verdict. podcast episode In it, she offered critical views on Zionism, Israel’s attack on Gaza, and the state’s questionable record with doubts about the events of the war. But the academic has been at the university for months (and indeed years), including after he signed a petition in late October calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and describing the war as “genocide.” He was under surveillance. Shalhoub-Kevorkian should “find another academic home that fits his position,” the university wrote.

This suspension certainly negates the meaning of some “enlightened” courses it has to offer. Indeed, what could a university that suspends a senior faculty member without trial teach students in a class titled “The Supreme Court of a Democracy”? What can academic institutions attuned to society’s most extreme and hawkish sentiments teach them about “freedom, citizenship, and gender”? What does this organization, which crudely silences and bullies the critical voices of women, lecturers, and members of persecuted minorities, tell us about “human rights, feminism, and social change”?

in statement Several years ago, Provost Professor Asher Cohen (who along with Provost Professor Tamir Schaefer approved Mr. Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s suspension) announced his vision for the academic institution several years ago. At the time of the announcement, the university claimed that it had “led the process of accepting residents.” That is what makes up Israeli society. We believe in a campus of diversity, pluralism and egalitarianism, where audiences from different backgrounds can get to know each other and see the value of coexistence. ” These are rich words coming from a man who seems unable to accept critical political voices different from his own.

In the same statement, Professor Cohen is proud of the university’s deep commitment “to Israeli society, and in particular to Jerusalem.” This is the same Jerusalem where half the city is occupied and over 350,000 Palestinians are oppressed every day, their homes demolished and their children arbitrarily dragged from their beds and arrested in the middle of the night. . Cohen’s ivory tower has a word for them.

Israeli border police close the entrance to East Jerusalem’s Issawiyah neighborhood and check all Palestinians wishing to cross, October 16, 2015. (Hadath Palash/Flash90)

There is much to be said about the Palestinian territories. Silwan and Sheikh JarrahBoth are located a few hundred meters from the Mount Scopus campus and are facing the takeover of their land and property by state-sponsored settlers.But most notably, the Hebrew University I never thought it would be a good fit This is to protest against the violent repression taking place in the village of Isawiya. The houses of Issawiya village are clearly visible from the windows of the campus buildings just a few meters away. Is there a night Cohen spends in his office without hearing the Israeli police gunfire below his window, which has long been the village’s soundtrack?

I wish Hebrew University’s deadly sin (and it really is a deadly sin) was ignorance. Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s suspension adds to a long list of political persecution and militaristic indoctrination the agency has promoted over the years.

After all, this is the same university that was founded in January 2019. pandered This is in response to an ugly inflammatory campaign waged by right-wing student organizations against Dr. Carola Hilfrich, falsely claiming that she reprimanded students who came to campus wearing military uniform. Instead of defending her against her false accusations, the university issued a shameful apology for “her case.” This is just a few months later chose Aims to essentially turn the campus into a small military camp by hosting courses for the Israeli Military Intelligence Corps (part of a fruitful partnership with the military), despite protests from students and instructors It is said that

This is the same university that has repeatedly harassed and silenced the Palestinian student body while awarding it to them. academic credit To the students who are volunteering for the far-right group Im Tilts. And this university shows how Israel has systematically destroyed Gaza’s schools and higher education institutions, shamefully destroying academic principles as well as its besieged, bombed, and starving Gazan colleagues. This is the same university that hasn’t said anything about betrayal for the past five months. itself.

In a letter to MK Sharen Haskell explaining the decision, President Cohen and Chancellor Schaefer accused Shalhoub-Kevorkian of expressing “disgraceful, anti-Zionist, and inflammatory” attitudes since the beginning of the war, saying that ridiculed her for criticizing the policies of Genocide in Gaza. But she’s not the only one doing so. Not only do the Palestinian people and hundreds of millions of people around the world regard the tragedy in Gaza as a genocide, but the world’s highest court, the International Court of Justice, itself takes this grave accusation seriously and permanently punishes this crime. The court ruled that the case could not be dismissed. hand.

It’s as if Cohen and Schaefer were surprised not only to learn that Shalhoub-Kevorkian is Palestinian, but also that she is Palestinian. —Anti-Zionist. If Zionism were a prerequisite for admission to a university, its leaders would have been obliged to inform all instructors and students before entering the gates. Legal restrictions aside, the main reason why Hebrew University does not do so is that Hebrew University benefits from the presence of Palestinians in order to present itself in the international academic community as a model of pluralism, liberalism. It is safe to say that this is because. , and inclusion. All the while, it could continue to persecute Palestinians inside the country, away from the eyes of the world.

This shameful act has already caused a huge stir in academia and the media around the world, giving Hebrew University a well-deserved stigma. Until then, the only course that seems suitable to be taught to students in a university module is the course offered by the Department of Political Science, namely the course on Machiavelli, the philosopher of tyranny.

This article first appeared in Hebrew on Local Calls. Please read here.