Israel’s education minister and the country’s national union of students are backing a draft law to limit academic speech in the country, which the heads of leading universities have attacked as “McCarthyite” and fundamentally undemocratic.
The legislation, currently being debated in the Knesset, would give a government-appointed committee the power to order the firing of academic staff that it decides have expressed “support for terror”. If the universities refuse, their funding would be cut.
Critics say the legislation is fundamentally undemocratic and would undermine Israeli academia, because it restricts free speech and allows politicians to weaponise accusations that should be handled by the legal system.
The president of the prestigious Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, known for links to the country’s hi-tech and defence industries, said the law was “McCarthyite”.
“It is a form of McCarthyism, a very violent form, because it is meant to threaten people not to express their mind, in a system that should be free of any intimidation, encouraging free speech, encouraging criticism,” Uri Sivan said.
The student union lobbied for the law, including spending 500,000 shekels (more than $136,000, £105,000) on a billboard campaign to promote it nationwide. The ads prompted the Haaretz newspaper to warn in an editorial that the country’s “illiberal students need a lesson in democracy”.
Israel’s education minister, Yoav Kisch, said he backed the law, although it is not a government initiative.
“It is important that academic institutions have great independence, but there are places that cross a line that must not be crossed,” his office said in a statement.
Ofir Katz, a member of the governing Likud party and chair of the ruling coalition, presented the draft as a private bill, with other backers including a legislator from the party of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rival, Benny Gantz. It has now passed the first of four Knesset votes.
Sivan said the legislation was dangerous for its broad restrictions and its narrow focus on universities, adding that Israel already had laws against incitement to terror that cover all residents.
“The question is, why is academia singled out [with this law]? And the answer is pretty clear: it is a blunt move meant to intimidate free and critically thinking independent minds.
“What they are trying to do is subject academics to stricter rules than other residents of Israel, where a violation of state laws is not judged in court but rather by a government-appointed administrator, with no process or opportunity for the accused one to defend him or herself.
“This is an extreme violation of fundamental democratic principles. In a democratic country everyone is equal before the law.”
Katz, when asked if existing laws against incitement fell short, said Israel needed additional controls on discourse by people with “public platforms”, and denied that the law would limit academic debate.
“The criminal aspect is a separate matter,” he said. “The freedom to express oneself is not the freedom for incitement to terrorism.”
The Association of University Heads, Israel (Vera) said in a public letter that the student union billboards backing the law were a divisive “campaign of persecution and incitement” that could lead to violence.
In Israel, criticism of the war in Gaza is already restricted and penalised, even for Jewish citizens. A teacher who was charged with treason and spent four days in solitary confinement after posting concerns about civilian deaths in Gaza, has described it as “a time of witch-hunts”.
Elchanan Felhimer, chair of the National Union of Israeli Students, said the posters were designed to be provocative to draw attention to the law, but had strong student support. Of the 30 university chapters of the union, two-thirds supported the campaign.
One of the academics targeted, Anat Matar from the philosophy department at Tel Aviv University, said the role of students in drafting and promoting a law to silence their lecturers was particularly disturbing.
“Whether or not it passes, a significant damage has already been done,” she said. “The mere fact that it is supported by the national student union and by many local student unions, and that there is hardly any protest among students against, it manifests another step down the ladder towards full-blown fascism.”
Yair Lapid, the leader of the opposition, said the law would erode democracy. “According to this bill, the person who decides what it means to speak against the state of Israel is Yoav Kisch. Not the police and not the court,” he told the Knesset.
“You’re allowing governing politicians to decide what is in favour of Israel and what is against it, what is permissible to say and what is forbidden.”
Vera warned in a public letter that the draft law would also fuel international sanctions campaigns against Israeli universities by undermining their academic independence.
There has already been outrage after anti-terrorism laws were used to detain a prominent legal scholar, Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, over criticism of the war.
Katz denied the law would affect academia but said any potential impact on universities was not his priority. “What matters most is the security of Israeli citizens and preventing further attacks that could occur due to inciters.”
Felhimer dismissed his critics as frightened and out of touch. “The heads of universities need to understand the gravity of their responsibility,” he said. “We should no longer be motivated by fear of what the world will think, what the world will say.
“Maybe many of the older [academics] are afraid about speaking out. But the younger generation no longer have these reservations.”
