Universities (photo Wikipedia, Facebook/ The Hebrew University)
A few days after 120 professors signed a letter supporting the legal reform, senior research university officials in Israel are calling – to avoid the legislative program “the purpose of which is to weaken judicial review”.
In a manifesto published by senior members of the academy, who previously managed the research universities in Israel, they call for the avoidance of the legislative program whose purpose is to weaken judicial review. “The move will allow the government to unlawfully violate human rights, including adopting an invalid policy of seriously harming freedom of expression and research, discriminating against Arab citizens, women and LGBTQ people and limiting freedom of expression. “If the plan for the government to take over the court and the legal advisory system for the government and abolish their independence is realized, there will be no restraints on the government’s power to act in a way that will eliminate Israeli democracy,” the manifesto said.
More in-
.jpg)
Aside from the great danger of violation of human rights, former university officials stress that the implementation of the plan is likely to cause fatal damage to the Israeli academy, and consequently to society as a whole. “The danger to the Israeli academy stems from a combination of factors: damage to the academic freedom of the institutions, of the companies and faculty members, and of the students, due to the restrictions that the government may impose on freedom of expression and academic freedom; an expected process of brain drain from Israel of researchers who will not agree to operate in a politically guided academic framework and undemocratic; a real fear of damage to the public budgeting of higher education, by way of damage to the independence of the Ministry of Education and Culture; a difficult meeting in Israel’s international science relations and the possibility of winning research budgets, and the exclusion of Israel from student exchange programs. All of these are expected to lead to a serious damage to the quality of teaching and academic research in Israel. They will prevent the academy from fulfilling the central roles it is assigned in Israeli society – teaching and research that advance science, the understanding of man and matter and therefore also promote social and economic well-being and make a decisive contribution to reducing disparities in society, by guaranteeing equal opportunities.”
The manifesto also states that changes to the constitutional structure of the State of Israel must be made only by broad consensus, not by the votes of the coalition alone, and subject to respecting the basic principle of democracy – dispersion of powers, the main of which is the avoidance of granting excess power to only one authority. We urge and urge everyone who knows and acknowledges the supreme importance of protecting human rights, the obligation to treat all people equally and the obligation to behave with tolerance and mutual respect, to resolutely oppose the governmental coup resulting from the legislative program which will give the government unlimited and unbridled power.
Below are the names of the signatories to the declaration of opinion:
Prof. Yitzhak Afluig, former president of the Technion
Prof. Yossi Ben-Artzi, former Rector of Haifa University
Prof. Aharon Ben-Zev, former president of Haifa University
Prof. Gershon Ben-Shahar, former president of the Open University
Prof. Menachem Ben-Shashon, former president and rector of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem
Prof. Hanoch Gutfreund, former president and rector of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Prof. Zvi HaCohen, former rector of Ben-Gurion University in the Negev
Prof. Jimmy Weinblatt, former Rector of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Prof. Daniel Zeifman, former president of the Weizmann Institute
Prof. Menachem Yaari, former president of the Open University
Prof. Rivka Karmi, former president of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Prof. Peretz Lavi, former president of the Technion
Prof. Danny Levitan, former rector of Tel Aviv University
Prof. Menachem Magidor, former president of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem
Prof. Barak Medina, former rector of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem
Prof. Hagit Messer-Yeron, former president of the Open University
Prof. Yaakov Metzer, former president of the Open University
Prof. Sara Stromza, former rector of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem
Prof. Moshe Sidi, senior assistant to the president of the Technion
Prof. Yaron Oz, former rector of Tel Aviv University
Prof. Paul Feigin, former senior assistant to the president of the Technion
Prof. David Farji, former Rector of the University of Haifa
Prof. Yossi Klifter, former president of Tel Aviv University
Prof. Itamar Rabinovitch, former president of Tel Aviv University
Prof. Aviv Rosen, former senior assistant to the president of the Technion
Prof. Adam Schwartz, former senior assistant to the president of the Technion
Prof. Aharon Shay, former rector of Tel Aviv University
Prof. Zeev Tadmor, former president of the Technion
Comments to the article(0):
Your response has been received and will be published subject to the system policy.
Thanks.
for a new comment
Your response was not sent due to a communication problem, please try again.
Return to comment