Eight presidents of Israel’s research universities published an open letter on Sunday threatening a strike and urging others to follow their example should the Netanyahu government fire Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara.
The March 9 letter warned of “an unprecedented threat to the rule of law” if the attorney general is fired, describing her as the key “gatekeeper” protecting citizens’ and individuals’ rights in Israel.
They added, “The calls of government ministers and members of Knesset to fire her are nothing but calls to quit democracy.”
The protest letter by the university presidents was signed by eight of nine members belonging to the Association of University Heads (VERA), including the presidents of the Hebrew University, the Technion, Tel Aviv University and the University of Haifa, among others. Ehud Grossman, the president of Ariel University in Samaria, was the lone holdout who did not sign the letter.
Ten heads of Israeli colleges on Monday followed the university presidents in declaring that they would launch major protest actions if the government dismissed Baharav-Miara.
Justice Minister Yariv Levin announced on March 5 that he was launching formal proceedings to dismiss Baharav-Miara, accusing her of acting as “the long arm of the government’s opponents.”
Although the mainstream Hebrew press reported on the letter uncritically, three student organizations, Dror, Im Tirtzu, and Lavi, wrote a petition condemning the letter, saying it indicated a “political inclination” on the part of the university heads and “a shocking blindness to the truth.”
The student groups said that the presidents didn’t represent the position of their student bodies and protested against their readiness to call for school strikes, saying it “smelled sharply” of academic politicization.
Shai Glick, executive director of Btsalmo, a human rights group active on Israeli campuses, agreed with the student groups’ position, telling JNS:
“It is, of course, the full right of every person to demonstrate on any issue. However, the reality in which all the presidents, instead of demonstrating in favor of the students who are fighting in the reserves and taking courses, unanimously choose to intervene in political issues proves one thing clearly: VERA is a political body and not an academic one,” he said.
Amihood Amir, chairman of Professors for a Strong Israel, a group of academics focused on issues related to Israeli security and national identity, told JNS that the VERA has stepped away from its original purpose.
“It’s supposed to be a committee that gets together to discuss common problems the universities face, but it started becoming political about four or five years ago,” said Amir, who teaches computer science at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, whose president signed the association’s letter.
Amir said that while it’s true the attorney general is meant to be a public servant, the position has become the “Supreme Court’s arm inside the government.”
The court itself has transformed over the years into a power above the legislature, he said, likening it to Iran’s Guardian Council, which acts as the ultimate arbiter, wielding the power to cancel laws passed by the legislature.
Amir lamented the politicization of the presidents’ association, noting it’s a reflection of a “new woke progressive religion” that entered the universities about 10 years ago. “These presidents are the tip of the woke spear,” he said.
“At Bar-Ilan University, which is a religious university, 60 to 65 percent, about two-thirds of the university, is already woke,” he said. “In other universities, the wokeness is higher. In Haifa, it’s 100 percent.”
Professors for a Strong Israel issued its own letter on March 6, the day after Levin announced his intention to fire Baharav-Miara.
Throwing its support behind the government decision, the group said: “The role of the attorney general is to assist the government in implementing its policy within the framework of the law, and not to serve as an insurmountable obstacle. Miara’s conduct constitutes a serious violation of the principles of democracy and the sovereignty of the people,” it said.
For months, a growing chorus of government ministers have called for the AG’s firing, asserting that she has consistently acted to foil government proposals.
The Association of University Heads did not reply to JNS’s request for comment.