Hebrew University

Former Otzma Yehudit MK Almog Cohen and right-wing activists stage a counter demonstration while Palestinian students and activists protest against the Israeli army operation in Jenin, at Tel Aviv University, January 30, 2023. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

On Israeli campuses, the state marks another enemy within

As the occupation's mechanisms of control seep into the civilian sphere, Jewish dissidents are next in line — and academic freedom offers no protection.

By Yael Berda November 21, 2025

Israeli and U.S. flags seen on MIT's campus during the university protests, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 4, 2024. (Peaceearth/Wikimedia Commons)

After crushing dissent, U.S. universities are deepening ties with Israeli academia

Israeli universities regularly collaborate with the military, which has destroyed all academic life in Gaza. That's done nothing to slow U.S.-Israeli partnerships.

By Dikla Taylor-Sheinman and Georgia Gee August 11, 2025

Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian during her court proceeding in Jerusalem, April 19, 2024. (Oren Ziv)

The orchestrated persecution of Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian

A vicious campaign by Israeli academia, police, and media to silence the professor shows Palestinians they have no safe place in Zionist institutions.

By Shahrazad Odeh April 30, 2024

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Students seen at the "Mount Scopus" campus at Hebrew University on the first day of the opening of the university year, October 23, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Hebrew University’s Faculty of Repressive Science

The suspension of Palestinian professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian empties all meaning from the university’s proclaimed values of pluralism and equality.

By Orly Noy March 23, 2024

Palestinian students at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem protest a violent escalation that followed Nakba Day, while Jewish Israeli students counter-protest opposite them, May 16, 2011. (Ruben Salvadori/Flash 90)

Palestinian students battle militarization of Hebrew University

Palestinian students released a video on Nakba Day highlighting the growing militarization of their university campus, sparking right-wing calls for a criminal investigation.

By Oren Ziv May 27, 2020

Palestinian and right-wing Israeli students demonstrate at Hebrew University during Operation Protective Edge. (Kobi Gidon/Flash90)

Hebrew U. cancels conference on Palestinian prisoners, following pressure

Hebrew University canceled the conference after a student group associated with Naftali Bennett’s Jewish Home party penned an open letter to the university president. ‘The very existence of this conference lends legitimacy to terror.’ By Eli Bitan Hebrew University announced it is canceling an academic conference on the topic of Palestinian prisoners, which was slated to take place…

By +972 Magazine May 14, 2017

Dr. Amal Jamal at a conference announcing the 'Council for the Protection of Freedoms,' Nazareth, Israel, May 12, 2017. (Courtesy of I'lam)

Civil society groups join forces to protect freedom of speech

Dozens of civil society, feminist, and anti-occupation groups form the ‘Council for the Protection of Freedoms’ to fight back against the government’s and public’s attacks against freedom of expression. Representatives from over 30 civil society organizations gathered on Friday in Nazareth for the founding conference of the “Council for the Protection of Freedoms.” The council was…

By Haggai Matar May 13, 2017

Supporters of academic boycott during the annual business meeting of the American Anthropological Association in Denver, Colorado, November 21, 2015. (Alex Shams)

Hundreds of academics call to boycott genocide conference in Israel

Academics condemn decision to hold a conference on genocide in Jerusalem at a time when Israel’s actions are ‘being viewed through lenses of ethnic cleansing and genocide.’ Nearly 270 academics from 19 countries are calling to boycott the fifth Global Conference on Genocide, set to take place on June 26-29 at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In…

By Rami Younis May 23, 2016

Israeli Border Police officers man a checkpoint for Palestinians leaving the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya, October 15, 2015. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

WATCH: How a single checkpoint affects an entire neighborhood

Ever since the eruption of the latest round of violence, the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Issawiya has been essentially blocked off from the rest of the city by a single checkpoint. Dozens of residents, along with students from Hebrew University and members of Knesset, held a demonstration calling to open the checkpoint and end the…

By Social TV January 7, 2016

Yemenite Jews walking to a ‘reception camp’ near Aden, 1949. (Photo by Kluger Zoltan/Israel National Archive)

How Jewish and Palestinian cultural artifacts became Israeli property

A new book looks at the ways in which ancient religious manuscripts belonging to Yemenite Jews, as well as thousands of books owned by Palestinians and Holocaust survivors became part of Israel’s National Library in Jerusalem. By Gish Amit (Translated by Shaked Spier) The book “Ex Libris: History of Robbery, Preservation, and Appropriation in the National…

By Haokets April 25, 2015

Palestinian protesters and Israeli activists demonstrate against new concrete blockades put in place by Israeli police restricting access to the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Issawiya, November 12, 2014. Israeli police had blocked off three of the four entrances leading to Issawiya due to recent clashes between Palestinian youths and Israeli police. (Faiz Abu Rmeleh/Activestills.org)

Hundreds of Palestinians, Israelis protest collective punishment in East Jerusalem

Over 800 people marched in the streets of Issawiya to call for an end to the mayor’s policies of road closures, petty fines and home demolitions. By Moriel Rothman-Zecher In the midst of the heightened tension gripping much of Jerusalem over the past few weeks, over 800 people marched peacefully through the village of Issawiya…

By +972 Magazine November 13, 2014

Right-wing students demonstrate in support Operation Cast Lead at Hebrew University, Dec. 29, 2008. (photo: Activestills.org)

At Hebrew University, Arabic textbooks reflect a Zionist reality

At Hebrew University, the narratives in Arabic and Hebrew language textbooks glorify Zionism and blur out any sign of the occupation. The next step? Using force against Palestinian students who dare to protest that very narrative. Fadi Asleh (Translated from Hebrew by Ofer Neiman) Israeli Independence Day is also Palestinian Nakba Day. This is one…

By Haokets May 24, 2014

A youth dressed with uniform of the USSR army, marches during a protest marking the International Worker's Day in center Tel Aviv, May 1, 2014.

Photos of the week: Between May Day and Nakba marches

This week: Palestinian citizens of Israel march to the destroyed village Lubya, Israeli activists commemorate the Nakba, solidarity with administrative detainees, May Day celebrations, the leader of Israel’s refugee movement says goodbye to freedom, and more.

By Activestills May 8, 2014