Tel Aviv University professor lauds terrorist who murdered, mutilated IDF soldier

Activists file criminal complaint against Tel Aviv University professor who praised Arab terrorist convicted of torturing and murdering an Israeli soldier.

By World Israel News Staff

An Israeli academic serving as a professor at Tel Aviv University sparked controversy this week with a eulogy for an Arab-Israeli terrorist who took part in the kidnapping, torture, murder, and mutilation of an IDF soldier 30 years ago.

Activists from the Im Tirtzu movement filed a complaint with Israeli police Wednesday morning against Dr. Anat Matar, following her praise of the convicted terrorist Walid Daqqa, who died in prison on Sunday.

Daqqa, a convicted terrorist, was imprisoned following his role in the kidnapping, torture, mutilation and subsequent murder of IDF soldier Moshe Tamam in 1984.

In May of 2023, there was a renewed attempt to have Daqqa released from prison as he was ill with terminal brain cancer, but the motion did not pass and he was not released.

Dr. Matar, a professor of philosophy at Tel Aviv University, eulogized him this week, calling him a “source of inspiration,” “a friend,” and a “noble soul.”

This is not the first time Matar has endorsed anti-Israel rhetoric – two years ago she spoke out against the hanging of Israeli flags in the university library, writing: “This is what a disease looks like.”

A long-time anti-Israel activist and supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement, Matar has called the IDF “a criminal army,” and in February tweeted that the entire “State of [Israel] is one giant war crime.”

Shai Rosengarten, deputy chairman of Im Tirtzu, a major in the reserves and a master’s student at Tel Aviv University, submitted a police complaint against Matar, writing: “Dr. Anat Matar’s words of praise towards a convicted terrorist – Walid Daqqa, who was involved in the kidnapping and murder of a soldier, are a grave matter without equal.”

“We have just returned from many months in the reserves to protect a country from vile killers, and that is what waits for us here at school. What kind of message is this to the combat soldiers? What kind of message is this to the bereaved families? For the families of the hostages? We expect the administration of Tel Aviv University to remove Dr. Matar from her post immediately following this incident.”