The next clash between the government and academia: Elements in the coalition are working to pass a bill that would permanently expel students waving the PA flag or expressing support for an armed struggle against the state. The heads of the universities accuse: "This is a problematic and dangerous bill – they want to turn the institutions into an arm of the Shin Bet."
During the demonstrations over the legal reform, friction and clashes between the heads of academic institutions and the government reached a peak, when universities and colleges announced that they were suspending studies until the legislation was stopped.
Nakba Day event at Tel Aviv University, photo: Coco
Now comes a new crisis. MK Limor Sun Har Melech (Otzma Yehudit), together with Im Tirtzu, are currently working on a bill that would make it possible to expel students who express support for terrorist organizations or wave PA flags from their studies.
According to the bill, whose final content has been formulated and efforts are being made in the coalition to reach an agreement on its final version, expressing support for an armed struggle by an enemy, a terrorist organization, an act of terrorism or waving the Palestinian Authority flag will result in a student being expelled from studies.
A student found guilty of this will be expelled for a period of 30 days, and if he repeats the act again, he will be permanently expelled and his eligibility for a degree will be revoked. In addition, the institutions will have to prevent the continued existence of student cells that commit the aforementioned offenses.
Demonstration at Ben Gurion University (archive), photo: Dudu Greenspan
President of Tel Aviv University: "The Palestinian Authority is not a terrorist organization"
Although a final version of the bill has not yet been formulated, and the date for discussion on it has apparently been postponed, university leaders have already strongly attacked it. On the eve of the holiday, the Committee of University Heads announced that "this is a problematic and dangerous bill" and expressed hope that the Minister of Education and the Chairman of the Scholarship will do everything in their power to block the proposal's advancement in the Ministerial Committee on Legislation and in the Knesset.
According to them, the bill seeks to turn institutions of higher education into arms of the Israel Police and the Shin Bet and "oblige them to monitor the hundreds of thousands of students in their fields, and to impose penalties for actions that today are mostly protected by freedom of expression – both according to court rulings, according to the Attorney General's directives and according to the instructions of the Israel Police."
The BORA also argues that Israeli academia should not be charged with the role of Israeli law enforcement authorities. "This involves politicization and deep and unreasonable interference in campus activity, an attempt to use academia for criminal enforcement, turning the administrations of the institutions into police officers, judges and even executioners – all offenses that have nothing to do with academia," they wrote in their letter.
Students demonstrate against IDF action, Tel Aviv University, 30/01/2023. Photo: Gideon Markowitz
They even claim that such a law will have implications for Israeli academic relations with institutions around the world: "This is a decision that will severely harm institutions of higher education, and the standing of Israeli academia in the world. This is a move that will justify all the arguments of the BDS organizations, and will lead to a wave of academic boycotts of Israeli institutions around the world. Needless to say, academic collaborations with prestigious universities abroad, and research grants from international foundations will also be called into question or even canceled in the long run." In addition, they said that the decision to close a political cell on campus, initiated or decided by the institution's management, is a draconian and extremely dangerous move.
In addition to a letter from the Board of University Heads, Tel Aviv University President Prof. Ariel Porat sent a letter to the faculty in which he wrote: "The Palestinian Authority is not an enemy state and is not a terrorist organization. Flying its flag is an act protected by freedom of expression. If we enforce this law, we will probably have to expel from the university a significant portion of our students, who will rightly not tolerate such oppression and will not hesitate to wave the flag of the Palestinian Authority."
Participated in the preparation of this article: Amir Ettinger
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