Hundreds of students and lecturers gathered outside the Council for Higher Education in Jerusalem on Tuesday in a demonstration against attempts to close Ben-Gurion University’s political science department. The future of the department could be decided later in the day when the council meets to reconsider last month’s decision to shut down the program.
The attempt to close the department is political persecution, a witch hunt that is the result of ongoing incitement from extremist right-wing organizations and it is particularly shameful that the government is supporting the suppression of academic freedom. This is the first time since the establishment of the State of Israel that they are closing a university department – a testimony to the ill will of the current right-wing government.

Students and lecturers protest outside the Council for Higher Education in Jerusalem on October 30, 2012, in protest against attempts to close Ben-Gurion University’s political science department (Photo: Activestills)

The Council had come to the decision to close the department after the program had been criticized by the Zionist organization Im Tirzu for being “unbalanced” and teaching only left-wing political approaches. Im Tirtzu had specifically pointed fingers at members of the department’s faculty for their political opinions and activities, which it says “affects their teaching.”

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