The following letter of protest to the President,
Rector and Dean of Humanities at Tel Aviv
University has been sent on the specified date.
The letter is self explanatory. Following its dispatch,
a correspondence started between the signatories
and the addressees and the whole affair
has been published in the Israeli press. Here is
the letter and the list of signatories:
To:
Professor Itamar Rabinovich, President,
Tel Aviv University
Professor Danny Levitan, Rector,
Tel Aviv University
Professor Shlomo Biederman, Dean of
Humanities, Tel Aviv University
April 23, 2006
Dear Sirs,
Tomorrow a one-day conference will be held
celebrating the inauguration of Tel Aviv
University's Center for Iranian Studies and the
Iranian Jewry Research Program. The ceremony
will be attended by the President of Israel, the
Minister of Defense, and by yourselves, the
President of Tel Aviv University, its Rector and
the Dean of the Humanities.
The participation of the Minister of Defense in
this ceremony as a key speaker at the conference
is an unacceptable blemish on Tel Aviv
University's reputation.
The new Center, which is supposed to be dedicated
to the study of Iranian culture and the history
of the Iranian people, and to serve as an
inter-cultural bridge, appears to have been
recruited by the propaganda campaign that
brands Iran as the ultimate threat to Israel, the
Middle East and the entire world, thereby identifying
it as the next target of U.S. (and possibly
Israeli) military escapades in this region.
Rather than subjecting this approach to responsible
criticism, as would befit a self-respecting
academic institution, one of its most outspoken
representatives has actually been invited to
deliver the inaugural speech at the conference.
The Minister of Defense's participation in the
opening ceremony of the Center for Iranian
Studies raises further concern that the University
is now including another body that will offer its
services to the Government instead of carrying
out independent critical research.
The very fact that the Defense Minister is invited
to speak at an academic conference held at
Tel Aviv University, severely hampers the
required separation between government and
academy. It also, in this case, is tantamount to
approval of an Israeli politician who should be
held directly accountable for the war crimes that
Israel is perpetrating in the Occupied Territories.
In his functio'n of Chief of Staff, and later as
Minister of Defense, Shaul Mofaz developed
and/or conducted the methods of warfare that
have caused the deaths of thousands of
Palestinians - including hundreds of children -
wholesale house demolitions, the uprooting and
destruction of agricultural land and olive groves,
grave interference with the freedom of movement
- all of which have contributed to turning
the Occupied Territories into a disaster zone.
In a more just world, Mofaz would have had to
stand trial before the International Court of
Justice in The Hague on grounds of war crimes.
In a more just university, staff would have been
ashamed of hosting this man at an official occasion
and would organize to struggle against him
and his methods - methods which have brought
Israel to an unprecedented moral decline.
We believe that in order to enable the
University's existence as a free academic institution
that encourages liberty, reflection and critical
thinking, the academic acknowledgement
that the University bestows on the Government
should be reduced. Such honor and praise
should go to those who deserve respect rather
than condemnation.
Of the little an Israeli academic institution is
currently able to do in the face of the state's
criminal conduct in the Occupied Territories,
refraining from inviting those who are deeply
identified with this conduct, is one possibility.
This is how we expect you to act as leaders of
the University. Only thus can you be true leaders,
conscientiously and intellectually alike.
Signatories:
Prof. (Emeritus) Aharon Eviatar
Prof. Adi Ophir, Cohen Institute of the History
and Philosophy of Science
Prof. Gady Algazy, Dept. of History
Prof. Anat Biletzky, Dept. of Philosophy
Dr. Avner Ben Amos, School of Education
Dr Ofra Goldstein-Gidoni, Dept. of East Asian
Studies, Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology
Prof. Rachel Giora, Dept. of Linguistics
Dr. Snait Gissis, Cohen Institute of the History
and Philosophy of Science
Dr. Haim Deuel-Lusski, Dept. of Philosophy
Prof. Haim Ganz, Faculty of Law
Prof. Yisrael Gershoni, Dept. of Middle-Eastern
and African History
Prof. Uri Hadar, Dept. of Psychology
Dr. Amalia Ziv, Dept. of Literature
Prof. Shlomo Zand, Dept. of History
Prof. Hava Yablonka, Cohen Institute of the
History and Philosophy of Science
Prof. Ben-Zion Munitz, Dept. of History
Dr. Anat Matar, Dept. of Philosophy
Dr. Ovadia Ezra, Dept. of Philosophy
Prof. Yoav Peled, Dept. of Political Science
Prof. Gidon Freudenthal, Cohen Institute of the
History and Philosophy of Science
Prof. Yeshoshua Tsal, Dept. of Psychology
Prof. Moshe Zuckerman, Cohen Institute of the
History and Philosophy of Science
Prof. Yehuda Kupferman, Dept. of French
Prof. Zvi Razi, Dept. of History
Dr. Yosef Schwartz, Cohen Institute of the
History and Philosophy of Science
Prof. Yehuda Shenhav, Dept. of Sociology
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