Freedom to give Nazi salute

Op-ed: No other state would allow Ben Gurion University-style 'academic freedom'


Haim Misgav
Israel Opinion/Ynet
19 August '10
H/T Michal Dar-El

The Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities is raising the banner of academic freedom in vain. There's nothing academia-like about the publication of articles in anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi, Holocaust-denying websites that call for boycotting Israel in universities abroad or for indicting IDF officers and prime ministers on war crime charges.

The heads of Israeli academia, who on Wednesday openly called for safeguarding the independence of Israel's academic institutions, are preaching to others while being guilty themselves. The hornets' nest that has developed at Ben-Gurion University's politics and government department needs to be dried up, as one deals with a festering wound.

If, for example, a senior lecturer in that department dares travel to Palestinian government headquarters in Ramallah (while blatantly violating the law) a day after one of the most terrible massacres we've ever seen here, in order to support Yasser Arafat and pose next to him in a photo where both hold their arms up, does this constitute academic freedom? Is this about the freedom to explore, or about a despicable act by someone who under false pretenses holds on to a job in a publically funded academic institution?

And if this department includes students who take part in an illegal rally at campus following the Turkish flotilla raid, while being photographed (knowingly) giving the Nazi salute, does this have anything to do with academic freedom? Are Nazi salutes a part of the education offered to politics and government students?

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