A history of ignoring the oppression of the Palestinians in East Jerusalem. Female students at the Mount Scopus campus, October 2022 (Photo: Olivia Pitosi / Flash 90)
“High Court in a Democratic State”, “Freedom, Citizenship and Gender”, “Dilemmas of Democracy”, “Human Rights, Feminism and Social Change” – these are just some of the courses offered by the Hebrew University to its students, and after the scandalous suspension of Prof. Nadira Shalhoub- Kiborkian can and is even recommended to be thrown away.
This is how Dr. Hilfrich was abandoned: the troubling questions that remain unanswered
What can a university, which suspended a senior faculty member from teaching without a hearing and without any proper procedure, teach its students about the rule of law in a democratic country? What can an academic institution, which aligns itself with the most extreme attitudes in society, teach its students about freedom? What can an institution, which rudely and bullies silences the critical voice of a woman, a lecturer, a daughter of a persecuted and massacred minority, teach about the dilemmas of democracy, about human rights or about feminism?
in the text A short article published on the website of the Hebrew University, in which he presents his vision regarding its academic and public role, writes the President, Prof. Asher Cohen, who signed (along with the Rector, Prof. Tamir Shafer) the shameful letter to MK Sharan Hashakal regarding the suspension of Shalhoub-Kiborkian , because “in recent years the university has been leading the process of inclusion of the populations that make up Israeli society. We believe in a diverse, pluralistic and egalitarian campus, where audiences from different backgrounds get to know each other and become aware of the value of living together.”
She was suspended without a hearing. Prof. Nadira Shalhoub-Kiborkian in the interview that caused the storm (screenshot, makdisi street)
Perhaps the linguistics department at the institution he heads will be able to analyze the meaning of these words – diversity, inclusion, pluralism – in the mouth of a person whose inability to contain critical voices even outweighs that of the Ben Gabir police, who so far at least have not found a reason to act against Shalhoub-Kyborkian. Who knows, this may also come, following the shameful and dangerous move by Cohen and Shafer.
On this gap, between the self-image of the Hebrew University as a liberal and democratic institution – an image that opens the doors to academic collaborations with the best universities in the world – we need to dwell a little longer.
In the same text, Cohen is proud of the university’s deep responsibility “for society in Israel, and in particular in Jerusalem.” The same Jerusalem, where hundreds of thousands of subjects are under daily oppression, their homes are destroyed, their children are pulled out of their beds in the dead of night for arbitrary arrests, without any of the heads of Cohen’s ivory tower, or himself, retaliating here.
Leave what is happening in Silwan or Sheikh Jarrah, both a few hundred meters away from the Mount Scopus campus. The Hebrew University, as an institution, has never seen fit to rise up against the violent and daily oppression taking place in the village of Issawiya, whose houses are clearly visible from the windows of the campus buildings, just a few meters away from it. Could it be that during the evenings that Cohen does in his office, he does not hear the sounds of gunfire, which for years have become the soundtrack of the village at the foot of his window?
But I wish that the great sin (and it is definitely a great sin) of the Hebrew University was just ignoring it. The suspension of Shalhoub-Kiborkian (in the notice of suspension they did not even spell her name correctly and called her ‘Shilhov’, perhaps a hidden hint of her inciting nature in their opinion) joins a long line of political persecutions and militaristic indoctrination promoted by the Mossad over the years.
It was the same Asher Cohen, who, in the face of the campaign of incitement and political persecution, full of lies, which was led by a right-wing student cell against Dr. Carola Hilfrich, chose to bow down to the extreme right on campus and publish a shameful letter of apology instead of defending her.
He did not defend a persecuted lecturer. The president of the Hebrew University, Prof. Asher Cohen, December 2018 (Photo: Hadas Proosh / Flash 90)
This is the same university, which over the years has repeatedly persecuted and silenced political organizations of Palestinian students, while Grants academic credits For volunteering in the extreme right organization “If You Want”. This is the same university, which chose to turn the campus into a sort of petty military camp, despite the protest of students and lecturers, one of a long line of collaborations with the army, which are very financially profitable for it.
This is the same university, which has been filling its mouth with water for more than five months, when Israel is systematically destroying the institutions of higher education in Gaza, shamefully betraying not only their besieged, bombed and starving colleagues in the Strip, but the academic idea itself.
In the letter to MK Hashkel, Cohen and Shafer accuse Shalhoub-Kivorkian of expressing herself in a “disgraceful, anti-Zionist and inciting manner” since the beginning of the war, and accuse her of calling “Israel’s actions in Gaza” (how many words can one wash before they know it?) genocide. She is not the only one: not only the Palestinian people (and Shalhoub-Kiborkian is, to the astonishment of Cohen and Shaffer, a daughter of the Palestinian people) and hundreds of millions around the world, the most important international legal tribunal also dealt with this heavy accusation with a seriousness, and came to the conclusion that it cannot be dismissed outright.
It seems that Cohen and Shaffer were not only surprised to find out that Shalhoub-Kiborkian is Palestinian, but that she is also – heaven forbid! – Anti-Zionist. If Zionism is a condition for admission to the Hebrew University, then its leaders were obliged to inform every lecturer and student about it before they come through its gates. The reason they do not do so is not only related to legal restrictions, but, most likely, also to the desire of the Hebrew University to continue to condition the presence of Palestinian lecturers and students, so that it can continue to present itself to the world as a model of pluralism, liberalism and inclusion, and at the same time pursue them at home, far away From my eyes the same circles.
It is to be hoped that this disgrace will resound with a loud voice, and expose the disgrace of the Hebrew University as it deserves. Until then, the only course I found in the yearbook that seemed appropriate for the university and the academic-educational load it can offer its students is the one offered in the political science department and which earns its students two credits – Machiavelli.
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