Hebrew Uni. suspends professor, expresses 'disgust' at genocide remark
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The Hebrew University suspends Palestinian professor after she called out "Israel's" war on Gaza a genocide and doubted the rape allegations Hamas was accused of.
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Palestinian activist and professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian (Social Media)
The Hebrew University in occupied al-Quds has suspended Palestinian professor and activist Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian from her position at the Faculty of Law after she called "Israel's" onslaught in Gaza a genocide.
Shalhoub-Kevorkian has consistently called out "Israel" and Zionism in the past, but in a recent interview with Israeli Channel 14, she blatantly condemned "Israel's" genocide in Gaza and called to question the previously debunked rape hoax "Israel" had accused Hamas of committing.
It is worth noting that the professor is an expert on “trauma, state crimes, and criminology, surveillance, gender violence, law, and society,” as per her description on the faculty's website.
The Hebrew University reportedly asked her to resign previously. However, after her interview, it opted to suspend her in response to continued pressure from the community and Israeli lawmakers.
In a statement titled "Incitement and hatred led by Prof. Shalhoub-Kevorkian", the university said, "Since the beginning of the war, Prof. Shalhoub-Kevorkian has been speaking out in a disgraceful, anti-Zionist, and inflammatory manner."
“The Hebrew University rejects all of her distorted statements with disgust. The Hebrew University is proud to be an Israeli, public, and Zionist institution.”
'There is so much love in Palestine'
On March 9, Nadera was a guest on the 'Makdisi Street' podcast, during which she discussed the Palestinian struggle to survive under the Israeli occupation.
She affirmed that despite the brutality of the occupation, there still exists so much love and hope in Palestine and among Palestinians.
But first and foremost, she called out "Israel" as a "killing machine that would do anything to further kill and survives because it erases Palestinians."
She also touched on the sexual abuse Palestinians are subjected to, giving the example of how IOF soldiers strip Palestinian prisoners naked or pose with Palestinian women's clothing after raiding their homes.
“There is so much love in Palestine" w/ Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian
— Makdisi Street (@MakdisiStreet) March 9, 2024
The brothers talk with Dr. Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian about life under occupation in East Jerusalem and the affirmation of life and love at the heart of the Palestinian struggle for freedom. pic.twitter.com/egweIHQC5v
Pro-"Israel" lobby acts globally
The pro-Israeli lobby has been motioning to get pro-Palestinians sacked globally, in an attempt to conceal "Israel's" crimes in Gaza.
Previously in January, Harvard President Claudine Gay announced her resignation, following backlash from a collective congressional testimony she and her counterpart at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a former one at the University of Pennsylvania on the state of antisemitism on campus, according to Reuters.
In November, Gay condemned the pro-Palestinian slogan "from the river to the sea" and referred to other phrases she deemed "similarly hurtful" in an email addressed to the university community.
“Our community must understand that phrases such as ‘from the river to the sea’ bear specific historical meanings that to a great many people imply the eradication of Jews from Israel and engender both pain and existential fears within our Jewish community,” she wrote.
Earlier in December, several hundred Harvard faculty members endorsed a petition supporting the university's president amid backlash over her participation in a congressional hearing focused on the increase in anti-Semitism.
The petition cautions against succumbing to external pressure to dismiss Gay, emphasizing that doing so would contradict Harvard's dedication to academic freedom. It urges the administration to "defend the independence of the university", stating that “the critical work of defending a culture of free inquiry in our diverse community cannot proceed if we let its shape be dictated by outside forces.”
The petition followed a letter that was released Friday by Representative Elise Stefanik, a New York Republican, signed by more than 70 mostly Republican members of #Congress, which called for the removal of Gay, Sally Kornbluth, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Liz Magill, president of the University of Pennsylvania since March 2022.
The controversy over the hearing focused on a contentious three-minute exchange between Stefanik and the three presidents. During the hearing, Stefanik considered that calls for an "Intifada" were calls for genocide against Jews. When asked whether calling for "the genocide of Jews" violates Harvard's rules of bullying and harassment, Gay answered that it depends on the context.
Representative Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.), a Harvard alumnus, expressed to Politico that the statement from the student groups was "morally depraved." He labeled the university's response as "moral cowardice."
Gay and other university leaders encountered severe criticism in the aftermath of the issuance of the statement.
Read more: The Israeli lobby is trying to silence pro-Palestine Harvard students
