More than 1,200 Israeli academic leaders have written in an open letter to the head of Israeli academic institutions to “speak out” and take action to end the Gaza war.
The academics, who identify themselves as the Black Flag Action Group, claim that in Gaza since Israel began to violate the ceasefire in March. According to the authors, they were mostly civilians in the majority. The authors point out that the increasing number of people who have been killed by Israeli fire is a result of “intentional and openly stated Israeli government policy.”
The academics’ letter is just the latest in a growing number of open letters that Israel’s citizens have written in protest of the war. The academics’ letter, however, is unique in that it places Palestinian suffering at the center of its objections to the war in contrast to many other letters that have criticized the political motivations behind Israel’s most recent offensive or claimed that it puts Israel’s remaining captives in Gaza in danger.
We as academics acknowledge our own part in these crimes, the letter states. “Crimes against humanity are committed by human societies, not by governments alone.” Some do it directly with violence. Others do so by quieting and silencing voices in the halls of learning, as well as before and after the fact, and by defending the crimes. This silence-based mechanism prevents clearly discernible crimes from gaining access to the barriers to recognition.
It goes on to say that “this is a horrifying litany of war crimes and even crimes against humanity,” and that it is all our own fault.
The letter further states, “We cannot make up our minds that we did not know.” We have been oblivious too long. If we don’t call for a stop to the war right away, history won’t forgive us for the sake of the lives of innocent people and the safety of all of the people in this land.
The signatories to the open letter request that the Association of University Heads in Israel, the Board of Academic Public Colleges, and the protest group Academics for Israeli Democracy “assemble immediately mobilize the full weight of Israeli academia to put an end to the Israeli war in Gaza.”
In practice, that could entail organizing strike strikes, as previous universities had previously threatened to protest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing campaign, which would begin in the first few months of 2023.
Why not the war, too, as we’re saying, but this is not any more or less significant than the judicial reforms? Raphael Greenberg, a professor at Tel Aviv University who signed the letter and who has been protesting the war in Gaza daily since December, said Greenberg.
He told Al Jazeera, “Academics must be active.”
Gaza’s destruction
More than 54, 000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 123, 000 have been wounded in Israel’s 19-month war against Gaza. It has displaced hundreds of thousands of people, often multiple times, and destroyed or damaged 92 percent of homes, according to the UN. The number of organized protests within Israel has been largely limited to the return of the captives taken in the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
According to Ayelet Ben-Yishai, a professor at the University of Haifa, “it’s been a cumulative process for some of us since October 7.” “For some, I would say that was the ceasefire’s expiration in March,” said one person. Many people thought that was a turning point, as well as witnessing the starvation that has been occurring in Gaza since.
Despite growing international condemnation, Israel’s continued assault on Gaza is receiving more and more negative press.
Around 1, 000 current and former air force pilots, who are typically regarded as a top class unit in the military, wrote an open letter in April in opposition to a war they claimed only served “political interests.” Many of the military’s open letters have been followed by objections to the war’s political motivations or that the renewed offensive in Gaza threatens the country’s remaining captives.
The academics’ open letter goes even further by criticizing Palestinians’ suffering, which many Israelis have rejected.
Ben-Yishai stated, “I understand that many people are opposed to the war for various reasons, but I welcome anyone who is opposed right now.”
We wanted to put Palestinian suffering at the center, even though it sounds hollow, I understand. We wanted to express our solidarity with Palestinians. She said that taking responsibility for what we are doing in Gaza and opening the eyes of people to it was another topic.
Palestinian compassion
Within Israel, the academics continue to perform poorly.
Israeli political analyst Nimrod Flaschenberg previously told Al Jazeera, citing the often low priority some in the antiwar movement place on protecting Palestinian lives. “There’s still an Israeli public taboo over showing any public sympathy for Palestinians,” he added.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, the country’s far-right national security minister, staged a march by nationalist youth through Jerusalem’s old quarter on Sunday that directly mocked the dead children of Gaza while physically attacking anyone thought to be Palestinian.
Source: Aljazeera
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