Hebrew U rights group pens anti-Israel report to UN, students fume

“It is inconceivable that a university-run clinic is delegitimizing the State of Israel, harming its sovereignty, and harming its ability to combat terrorism.”

By World Israel News Staff

Several leading student groups at Hebrew University of Jerusalem filed a complaint to the administration last week after learning that the institution’s International Human Rights Clinic, part of the Faculty of Law, wrote and helped submit an anti-Israel report to the United Nations.

On Monday, Israel National News  reported that Hebrew University’s International Human Rights Clinic together with “Parents Against Child Detention” submitted a report in February to the United Nations Human Rights Committee that accused Israel of violating international law by unlawfully detaining and torturing Palestinian children.

According to a Facebook post uploaded by “Parents Against Child Detention,” the report describes “the harsh reality of Israel’s arrests on Palestinian minors in the West Bank and in eastern Jerusalem.”

The report, written by Hebrew University’s clinic director, Adv. Dana Yaffe, together with students from the clinic, also suggested “a number of concrete recommendations to be implemented that can be demanded of Israel.”

In response to the report, the Hebrew University branch of Zionist NGO Im Tirtzu together with the student groups of the Likud, Yisrael Beiteinu, and Religious Zionism parties sent a joint letter to the university administration blasting the report.

“Israel’s security forces are doing their jobs in the most moral way to preserve human life and the dignity of the residents,” the student groups wrote.

“It is inconceivable that a university-run clinic is delegitimizing the State of Israel, harming its sovereignty, and harming its ability to combat terrorism.”

The students concluded: “We expect Hebrew University to reject the clinic’s report and to immediately put an end to such activities that include cooperation with radical organizations seeking to undermine the State of Israel.”

Im Tirtzu’s National Activist Coordinator Shai Rosengarten said that it is “inexcusable for a clinic in a publicly funded university to be using taxpayer money to delegitimize Israel and harm its ability to defend itself from terrorism.”

This was far from the first time the Zionist NGO protested against Hebrew University. Just a few examples:

Last year, the watchdog group filed a police complaint against a teaching assistant who shared a post on her Facebook page calling for death to Jews after the university refused to discipline her.

In 2019, Professor Amiram Goldblum, a senior lecturer at Israel’s Hebrew University, called pro-Israel student activists “Nazi dogs” and threatened to prevent them from getting accepted into advanced degree programs.

Also in 2019, a Hebrew University of Jerusalem lecturer berated a female IDF soldier on Tuesday for wearing her uniform to class.

Also that year, an Arab professor of Social Work slammed Israel at a Columbia University event.

“The International Human Rights Clinic in Hebrew University is involved in protecting the rights of all human beings and children in particular, regardless of religion, race, gender, or nationality, belonging to all sectors of the population in Israel,” the university stated regarding the latest incident.