The Academy of Sciences also joins the opposition to the "silencing law"

"At this time, when the State of Israel is facing unprecedented security and economic challenges, this bill is not only considered a dangerous distraction but also constitutes a direct threat to one of the most important engines of growth and resilience of the country - the world of research and academia in Israel." said in the public letter

"It is not clear why, in the days of war on multiple fronts and a deepening economic crisis, the government chooses to devote its resources specifically to attacking domestic factors that form the basis of the economy, security, culture and society - instead of strengthening the academic system in the international arena and seeing it as an engine of national reconstruction," the letter said issued by the heads of the Israeli National Academy of Sciences following the "Silencing Law", which requires them to immediately fire without hearing and without compensation any lecturer who spoke against Israel.

As I recall, this week he issued a similar leaflet as well and the committee of heads of universities, who argued that the existing laws are sufficient and that the handling of the cases should be carried out by the parties such as the police and the security services, without the guarantee of the universities. The present letter comes to strengthen them.

The Academy's announcement stated: "The Council of the Israeli National Academy of Sciences, by virtue of its legal role to advise the government on scientific issues of national importance, firmly and unequivocally opposes the bill known as the "Silencing Law" (amending the Higher Education Council Law), which is being promoted these days in complete opposition to the position of the legal advisor to the government, and strongly condemns it."

At this time, when the State of Israel is facing unprecedented security and economic challenges, this bill is not only considered a dangerous distraction, but also constitutes a direct threat to one of the most important engines of growth and resilience of the country - the world of research and academia in Israel."

"The bill in question, which claims to deal with marginal phenomena using draconian tools, is a serious deviation from the basic principles of Israeli democracy and the basic principles of the academic world. It seeks to grant dangerous and unprecedented powers to political parties to interfere in the core of academic activity while blatantly trampling on the principles of freedom of expression , freedom of thought, institutional autonomy and the labor laws of the State of Israel."

"This legislation, along with the corresponding proposal to limit the activity of student cells that express support for terrorism promoted in the Education Committee, is not only unnecessary but also extremely harmful. These proposals blatantly ignore the existence of existing legal mechanisms to deal with incitement to terrorism, and seek to impose on the academy enforcement roles that are not in its field of expertise and even contrary to its purpose."

"In recent months, the Israeli research world has been dealing with an unprecedented wave of expressions of an academic boycott in the international arena following the war. The proposed law helps to fuel this process, by providing justification for the claims of the supporters of the boycott and may lead to the complete isolation of the Israeli scientific community from its peers around the world.

Signed:

• Prof. David Harel, president
• Prof. Margalit Finkelberg, Vice President
• Prof. Sergio Hart, Chairman of the Humanities Division
• Prof. Yadin Dodai, Chairman of the Natural Sciences Division
• Prof. Neely Cohen, former president of the academy
• Ms. Galia Finzi, manager

to the letter on the academy website (Hebrew)