ISRAEL MARC Bennetts Professors and sfudents slam proposals to muzzle political opinions By Mark Weiss IN THE coming weeks, Israel’s Council of cuss politics in class.” Higher Education is due to discuss adopt- Prominent historian Yuval Noah Harari ing an ethical code on political activity in from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, universities and colleges drawn up by Prof. whose books have become international (Emeritus) Asa Kasher at the request of Ed- best sellers, likened the situation in Isra- ucation Minister Naftali Bennett. el today with McCarthyism in the United The proposals, which include strict limits States in the 1950s. on lecturers voicing political opinions and a He told his students in a lecture: “If and ban on support for academic boycotts, were when the Code of Ethics is passed, I intend widely condemned by many professors, to make certain to violate it in every lecture.” who vowed to ignore the regulations, and He warned of “an atmosphere of censorship, by students, who threatened to strike. thought police and fear,” and claimed that In common with most Western countries, “an authoritarian regime does not come into institutions of higher education in Israel being out of thin air one day; the solution is tend to have a disproportionate representa- not to obey it from the outset.” tion of liberal teaching staff and have long But not all professors were against the been viewed by the Right as bastions of proposals. Nobel Prize Laureate for Eco- the left-wing elite, along with the media, nomics, Prof. Yisrael Aumann, said the judiciary, cultural and other civil society world of higher education is primarily com- organizations. posed of leftists who act as a closed clique. Bennett has responded to the wave of crit- “There is a systematic problem with the icism from academia by stressing that the system of higher education in Israel. It is Code of Ethics will apply equally to both Prof. Asa Kasher is the author of the very, very one-sided. Only leftists. They the left- and right-wings. controversial Code of Ethics appoint themselves and appoint those who “We are acting today to stop the silencing think like them.” of voices in academia; to prevent a situa- Political Science Prof. Avraham Diskin of tion in which a student is liable to be hurt fense Forces’ widely respected Code of Eth- the Academic Center of Law and Science because of his political opinions; to avoid a ics. He hit back against the criticism from also welcomed the proposals. situation in which a lecturer who receives a professors. salary from the Israeli taxpayer comes out “The problem these people have with the "THIS IS a carefully considered series of with a call for a boycott of Israeli academia, Code of Ethics is called Bennett. The mo- reasonable and moderate behavioral guide- which pays his salary.” ment his signature appears on it, the Left lines that are not complemented by puni- will be against it,” Kasher said. tive measures. Academics, who frequently BENNETT STRESSED that the proposed He was particularly critical of the Asso- spread fabrications about Israel’s ‘apartheid Code of Ethics was not the Ten Command- ciation of University Heads, which spear- regime,’ about the ‘Judeo-Nazi IDF’ and ments, but rather the opening point for a headed the campaign against the code. “The who often support boycotts of the state, have dialogue. Association operates like the Haredi rabbis. spoken out fiercely against the code because “The culture of debate and discussion is This is a conservative instinct of a group they believe that academic freedom applies deeply rooted in Judaism and is the basis that wants to protect its own interests.” to maligning Israel inside and outside the of the Talmud, and anyone who went to Kasher claimed that should the academic classroom but that it does not apply to a code the trouble of reading the proposed Code boycott of Israel succeed, thousands of lec- of ethics, which couldn’t be more tolerant.” of Ethics could see that. This is the start of turers would be fired. Pushing fora shake-up in Israeli academia the road at the end of which we will reach The Association of University Heads de- for years has been the right-wing NGO Im agreement on what will be applied,” he said. scribed the proposed code as an “aggregate Tirzu, which claims that students are afraid Kasher, who drew up the controversial of regime-dictated rules” and decried it as to voice their opinions. Eitan Meir, lm proposals, is an Israel Prize winner and “wresting from the institutions of higher edu- Tirzu’s director of external relations, wel- philosophy and ethics professor at Tel Aviv cation the freedom to set rules of conduct and corned the Code of Ethics as long overdue. University, who also co-wrote the Israel De- behavior for academic faculty members and, “This is really a breath of fresh air. We’ve by so doing, egregiously and fundamentally received hundreds of complaints over the violates the notion of academic freedom.” last few years from students telling us their Naftali Bennett: The culture of debate Prof. Niv Gordon of Beersheba’s Ben- professors are injecting radical anti-Zionist and discussion is deeply rooted in Gurion University of the Negev, said, “You content into their courses and the students Judaism won’t silence us. We will continue to dis­ are afraid to express their opinions because IDI President Yohanan Plesner: The draft proposals endanger the basic ethos of academia they know they will get bad grades.” wonders of Zionism and one of our major We want a code that ensures that students Meir also criticized the cooperation be- national assets. The draft proposals endan- can discuss whatever they want and not to tween universities and left-wing NGOs. ger that. They go against the basic ethos of impose a code that says politics cannot be “Students could get scholarships and ac- academia. The key question is the definition discussed at all,’’ said Nava Edelstein, Inter- ademic credits by volunteering for organi- of what is political activity and the Code of national Relations director of the National zations such as B'Tselem and Hamoked, Ethics defines it in such a broad manner that Union of Israeli Students. which actually defend terrorists in court. you can basically cancel the disciplines of The Code of Ethics has also come in for The Middle East Studies Department at economics and sociology.” criticism from abroad. The American As- Ben-Gurion University voted to award a sociation of University Professors and the 20,000 shekel prize to Breaking the Silence, ACCORDING TO Plesner. the code was American Federation of Teachers described the most controversial organization in Isra- drawn up in response to a few marginal, the proposals as a threat not only to academ- el. It’s absurd.” radical voices. “But it puts in jeopardy the ic freedom in Israel, but to Israel’s standing He rejected criticism that the Code of fundamentals of the entire Israeli academia. as a democracy. Ethics would effectively turn students into A code of ethics should be presented by the “No educator - at any academic level, spies against their professors. institutions themselves following a broad anywhere in the world - should be told by “I think it’s a great thing that students will dialogue, not by the government imposing outside forces what to say or how to think. no longer be afraid to speak out in class. a top-down unethical code that instills fear Such a proposal is the antithesis of critical Students have a right to complain because and a legal-type relationship whereby lec- thinking and democratic principles,” the or- academia is a place to express your opin- turers will constantly have to record them- ganizations said in a joint statement. ions, not to be silenced by professors.” selves and defend themselves. This would “We call on Israel’s government to reject The Israel Democracy Institute argues that be dangerous and counterproductive.” this proposal by Minister of Education Naf- the code invalidates the autonomy of institu- The National Union of Israeli Students tali Bennett in no uncertain terms. Israel’s tions of higher education, which in turn is a has threatened to strike if the code is im- universities must remain havens of intel- violation of the Higher Education Law. IDI plemented, arguing that the belief that re- lectual curiosity and serious study, with no President Yohanan Plesner, a former Kadima strictions could be placed on statements and attempt by the state to monitor or restrict Knesset member, said the Code of Ethics un- thinking in academia was fundamentally faculty political positions or their ability to reasonably expands the definition of what is misguided. freely instruct students in their respective political and harms the soul of academia. “The discourse today allows for open areas of expertise.” “The Israeli academic system is one of the discussion and we want to continue that. The organizations stressed that while they *nr הוזוזגה הוו ^ % י 1 הנזזזגה הוויית' ויוני ה**חנ MKTzipi Livni: The Code of Ethics is an unethical and non-kosher document that is suited to benighted regimes oppose efforts to boycott Israeli universi- cians for who can silence the most people. the fact that Israeli academia is biased to the ties, they also oppose stifling discussion of “He must show his [Bayit Yehudi] con- left. We’re not only talking about high-rank- boycott proposals. stituency that [Likud Culture and Sport ing [academics] who take part in activity “Either you believe in democracy and the Minister] Miri Regev is not the only one,” against Israel, but mainly about preaching an freedom to speak, or you don’t.