By Ranna Khalil | Researcher
Dear friends,
Since the start of the war on 7 October 2023, and following the devastating Israel hostilities against Gaza, Israeli institutions and law enforcement authorities have targeted Palestinian citizens of Israel (PCI) in an unprecedented clampdown on freedom of expression. Israeli universities and colleges have launched dozens of disciplinary proceedings against PCI students, suspending and expelling them, solely for their social media posts. In general, the posts protested against the massive bombardment of Gaza by the Israeli military, sympathized with the besieged people of Gaza, cited verses from the Qu’ran, and sometimes touched on topics unrelated to the war, though they were interpreted differently. The institutions alleged that the posts violate their disciplinary regulations by “supporting terrorism” or “sympathizing with terror organizations”, and many published official statements declaring “zero tolerance” for “supporting terrorism”. Minister of Education Yoav Kish publicly backed these disciplinary actions in a letter to academic institutions in which he stated that the schools must “immediately suspend any student or employee who supports the barbaric terrorist acts currently experienced in the State of Israel”, and that, “in cases where there is indeed incitement, [you must] order a permanent expulsion.”
Adalah has been representing Palestinian students before Israeli university disciplinary panels and in courts as the measures taken by academic institutions constitute a violation of the Palestinian students’ freedom of speech rights, exceed the universities’ authority, and amount to political persecution of the Palestinian students as a group. For the past five months, Adalah has monitored 123 cases and represented 95 Palestinian students enrolled in 35 Israeli universities and colleges in disciplinary procedures against them. Over half of the students faced suspension or were expelled without a hearing. With legal representation from Adalah, dozens of students were given the right to be heard at disciplinary proceedings, and 38 have resulted in acquittals, (almost a 46% success rate); 23 in suspensions, 9 in expulsions, and 12 in “educational punishments” including reprimands, mandatory apologies, and participation in educational courses. Adalah has more hearings upcoming and anticipates further appeals, will engage in mediation processes and is awaiting many decisions.
B.K., a student at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, a prestigious Israeli academic institution in Haifa, is one of students represented by Adalah in disciplinary proceedings filed against them by Israeli universities and colleges and one of hundreds of PCI who have been arrested in the crackdown on freedom of expression. On 8 October 2023, one day after the start of the war, she posted a video to a small group of friends on her private account on Instagram of a skillet of shakshuka, captioning it “Soon we will eat the shakshuka of victory” alongside an emoji of the Palestinian flag. B.K., a self-proclaimed bad cook, said that her post meant that she had succeeded in making shakshuka, a popular Middle Eastern egg and tomato-based breakfast dish that she had been struggling to perfect.
A number of Jewish Israeli students claimed that her post expressed support for the Hamas attack and filed a complaint to the university’s disciplinary body. As a result, she was expelled from the Technion, thrown out of her dormitory, fired from her two jobs, and interrogated. She was then arrested on 25 October for allegedly “sympathizing with a terrorist organization” and “conduct liable to cause public disorder”. She spent the night in a jail cell designed to hold four prisoners which instead held eight PCI women – all with similar stories. Adalah is representing B.K. on appeal from her suspension from the Technion. Adalah also represented her in the detention charges. Following an ppeal that Adalah filed to the District Court, the judge released her to house arrest for five days and barred her from using social media.
“I felt like I was in a nightmare. You’re arresting me, after I was subjected to two weeks of political persecution? ... “How did I end up in this situation?”- B.K., in an interview for AP News, 30 November 2023.
B.K.’s story garnered interest from international media outlets, bringing attention not only to her individual case, but also to the general threats to PCI during the war, resulting in the current atmosphere of silencing and the suppression of PCI’s freedom of expression rights.
“I feel like now I’m in a different war. One where I have to defend myself and my identity.” B.K., in an interview for The Washington Post, 12 November 2023.
Some examples of the coverage in the international and local media:
Thank you for your support.
The Adalah team.
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