Israeli minister blocks professor from academic post for supporting insubordination in IDF

A Likud minister blocked a leading brain researcher from serving on a scholarship committee because she signed a petition supporting IDF soldiers who refuse to serve in Judea and Samaria.

By: World Israel News Staff

Science and Technology Minister Ofir Akunis (Likud) blocked one of Israel’s leading brain researchers from an academic appointment due to her political views.

Akunis prevented Prof. Yael Amitai from serving on an Israeli-German scientific committee that provides scholarships to researchers because she signed a petition in 2005 that articulated support for IDF soldiers who refuse to serve in Judea and Samaria and other territories that came under Israeli control after the 1967 Six Day War.

The committee belongs to the German-Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development (GIF).

The petition, signed by 360 professors and researchers, states that the signatories “express our support and appreciation for students and lecturers who refuse to serve in the occupied territories.

“Too often this service involves carrying out orders that have no place in a democratic society that believes all people are created in the image [sic].”

Prof. Asher Cohen, president of Hebrew University, told Army Radio Monday morning that Akunis’s decision undermines Israel’s innovative abilities.

“This is a blow to Israel’s academic excellence, which is based on the free and open inquiry without any restrictions,” Cohen said. He added that it was part of an ugly trend in which politicians are attempting to interfere with what is going on in the universities.

Akunis defended his decision on Army Radio, saying that “as soon as Amitai called for insubordination within the IDF she can no longer represent the State of Israel. The next candidate will be worthy of the position.”

Akunis said he was in politics to advance the agenda of his party, not the agenda of individuals who called for insubordination.

Akunis’ media adviser explained that the minister “decided not to sign the recommendation to appoint Ms. Amitai as representative in the Israel-Germany Research Fund, not because of her positions, but because she had previously signed a petition encouraging refusal to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces.”

Akunis also took pride in the decision in a Facebook post in which he wrote: “Supporting the IDF – fighting against refusal.”