This Israeli college president says American campus protests have crossed the line
Pro-Palestinian protests on American campuses have drawn criticism from politicians, parents, and even some college leaders — including the presidents of Israel’s top research universities.
In a joint statement, the presidents called the demonstrations disturbing, saying they had created a climate in which Jewish students and faculty members felt unsafe.
It’s uncommon, even unorthodox, for college leaders in one country to weigh in on campus controversies in another. Yet the Israeli presidents have repeatedly spoken out about American higher education’s response to the Israel-Hamas war, in public messages and in letters urging their American counterparts to be more forceful in condemning Hamas’s attacks last October.
Ron Robin, president of the University of Haifa, felt he could not be silent. Robin’s expertise is in American history; he earned a Ph.D. at the University of California at Berkeley and was a top administrator at New York University before being named the Haifa president.
Robin was back in California on college business when we talked last week. He said he supported the right to protest but that the environment on some American campuses had become “toxic.” He also called criticism of Israeli universities, and the movement for an academic boycott, misplaced. Last month, he noted, Haifa appointed Mouna Maroun, an Arab neuroscientist, as rector, the equivalent of provost. She’s the first Arab academic to take on the influential role at an Israeli institution. “I don’t think you could make a stronger statement,” Robin said.
The conversation has been edited for space and clarity.
Why take the unusual step of weighing in, repeatedly, on events on campuses in a different country?
What we see now in the United States impinges directly on us, and we feel that we need to voice our opinion. The only way to address these issues is to use our personal ties. Israeli academia is a force for reconciliation in the Middle East, a force for a society that is equitable to all, and an example of the speciousness of the call that Israel is an apartheid state. Folks who are calling for breaking with Israeli universities are doing this because we spoil the narrative.
I would beseech my colleagues to understand what is happening on university campuses in Israel before making rash moves, before being sucked under by fake news and misinformation. We are here; please approach us.
In your recent letter, you and your colleagues write, “Freedom of expression and the right to demonstrate are vital to the health of any democracy and especially crucial in academic settings.” But you feel that the latest protests have crossed a line. How?
Recently at the University of California at Los Angeles, for one example, there was a roadblock near the main quad. People were asked at the entrance, “Are you a Zionist or not?” Let me be very clear about this: The use of the word Zionist is just a subterfuge. They were asking, “Are you Jewish or not?”
Look, there’s no one reason for the demonstrations on campus. There are some who support the Palestinian cause, and that’s just fine. There are some who are shocked by what they see in the media. And there are some who are adamant about purging Jews from these campuses. These forces have joined together in a toxic mix. Many people who have had noble reasons for supporting the Palestinian cause have been sucked in to this toxic combination of protests.
The demonstrations themselves have largely been peaceful, and reports of violence have often come when campus administrators or law enforcement have tried to force them to end. Why not just allow students to speak their minds?
Once freedom of speech turns into blocking access to buildings, building encampments which don’t allow people to move around freely — once they move out of discourse into actions which impede freedom of movement, freedom of religion — they cross the line. There are legitimate concerns that people have, but they have moved beyond discourse to manners which are intimidating and, at the extreme sides of this, are tremendously antisemitic as well.
The University of Haifa is a uniquely mixed institution, where 40 percent of the students are Arab. What has the climate at your university been like?
This is a time of great tension between Arabs and Jews, who may be on different sides of this conflict. We should be cognizant of that and respectful of that. Whatever forums we have to express these opinions should be in a manner which is respectful of others. We’re back to having having one or two small demonstrations at the entrance to the campus.
We teach our students how to think. We don’t tell them what to think. And that is a very important distinction.
Yet, your institution is not without conflict. Students were suspended for allegedly making pro-Hamas posts on social media.
Would you like to know what happened to those students? Out of those eight students, one was suspended indefinitely. One decided to leave the school, and all the rest received suspended sentences. I believe when you look at Ivy League campuses, a few more students have been suspended than at Haifa.
Do you worry about the potential for conflict or unrest bubbling just under the surface on your own campus?
I would be foolish not to worry. It can change any day. We have to be vigilant. We have to be attentive to our students and faculty. The fact of the matter is that no university is an island and definitely not our university. Therefore, we have to be constantly vigilant, because things can spiral out of control any day. Of course I worry.
