Report Alleges "Apartheid" in Israeli Academia Against Arab Students

A new report by Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, claims that Israeli academic institutions are systematically persecuting Arab students' freedom of thought and expression, labeling the situation "apartheid." The report, "Apartheid in Israeli Academia: Palestinian Students After October 7, 2023," details how Arab students face disciplinary proceedings for speech outside of academic contexts, while Jewish students are largely protected. The report, authored by lawyers Lobna Touma, Adi Mansour, and Mai Diab, and edited by Dr. Fadi Khoury, is based on cases involving 132 Palestinian students who faced disciplinary actions.

The report highlights three characteristics of this alleged persecution: it is disproportionately aimed at women, with three out of four disciplinary proceedings initiated against Arab women; it "fabricates cases" by prioritizing accusations over factual investigation; and it is racially discriminatory. While Jewish students are protected by law from disciplinary action outside academic contexts, Arab students are allegedly required to prove their innocence and loyalty to the state based on their opinions expressed off-campus.

The report cites a rapid escalation following the October 7th Hamas attacks. On October 8, 2023, the Haifa University rector suspended four Arab students for social media posts allegedly supporting the attacks, a decision later found to be made without due process. Subsequently, the Minister of Education instructed academic institutions to deal harshly with students supporting terrorism, leading to a wave of disciplinary actions. Adalah has received dozens of requests for assistance from students across 40 institutions.

Examples of alleged due process violations include students being summoned for questioning without knowing the reason, being disciplined for posts from years prior wrongly attributed to the current conflict, and being held responsible for posts not made by them. In one instance, a student at Ono Academic College was disciplined for a 2022 World Cup comment, which the college interpreted as support for Hamas. Another student at Orot Jerusalem Academic Institute faced proceedings for a profile picture of a person holding a gun, which was not the student's profile.

The report argues that academic institutions have expanded their authority beyond the Student Rights Law to include off-campus social media activity, but this expansion has only been applied to Arab students. In contrast, when Jewish students engaged in violent protests with calls of "death to Arabs" outside Tel Aviv University, no disciplinary action was taken. Similarly, the Technion dismissed a complaint against the student union chairman for drawing the union's symbol on a Gaza building during reserve duty, stating it was outside their jurisdiction. The Hebrew University also stated it could not ban a student convicted of serious sexual offenses off-campus, as it was not related to university activities. Adalah concludes that this creates two separate disciplinary tracks, one constitutional for Jews and an administrative one for Arabs, betraying the core purpose of academia.