A senior professor at Hebrew University, Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, is scheduled to deliver a lecture later this month in Amsterdam accusing Israel of exploiting Palestinian children to promote arms sales.
The conference, “Technologies of Violence at Damascus Gate,” is being organized by the Faculty for Israeli-Palestinian Peace (FFIPP), an international group that “stands against the concept and process of normalization” with Israel.
According to the event description, first reported on by Makor Rishon newspaper, Shalhoub-Kevorkian will explain how Israel uses the “bodies and lives” and “daily suffering” of Palestinian children in order to improve its weapon sales.
Through the “the voices and writings of Jerusalemite children who live under Occupation,” explains the event promo, “she will reveal how surveying, imprisoning, torturing and killing can be used as a laboratory for states, arms companies, and security agencies to market their technologies as “combat-proven.”
Shalhoub-Kevorkian is the Lawrence D. Biele Chair of Law at Hebrew University, which faced sharp criticism last week after a professor was filmed scolding a student who attended class wearing an Israel Defense Forces’ uniform.
In response to the lecture, Hebrew University responded that “the lecturer accepted the invitation to the conference on her own initiative, without the involvement of the university or connection to her position.”
Matan Peleg, CEO of the Zionist organization Im Tirtzu that is the leading voice against politicization in academia, called the lecture a “disgrace.”
“It’s a disgrace that Shalhoub-Kevorkian, whose salary is paid for by the Israeli taxpayer, is given free rein to slander Israel and fuel the fires of BDS,” said Peleg.
“It seems that every week there is another instance of anti-Zionism at Hebrew University,” continued Peleg, “which is unfortunately unsurprising given the administration’s allowance for anti-Israel activity to fester on its campus, including inciting protests against the IDF, nixing ‘Hatikvah’ at graduation ceremonies, and holding biased conferences replete with far-left speakers.”
“The university must immediately take action against this harmful phenomenon,” said Peleg. “The writing is on the wall.”
