Palestinian students in higher education face harsher rules and weaker protections as a result of an “institutional apartheid” created by ‘Israel’, a new report argues.
Apartheid in Israeli academia: Palestinian students after 7 October, published by Adalah, the Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, focuses on the period since the start of ‘Israel’s’ genocide in Gaza.
It examines how ‘Israeli’ colleges and universities have carried out a multi-layered campaign to surveil, silence, and criminalise Palestinian students, who are predominantly citizens of ‘Israel’.
A two-tier disciplinary system has been put in place by ‘Israel’, which treats Palestinian students differently from Jewish-Israeli ones.
Palestinian students cruelly targeted
Soon after the start of the genocide in Gaza, academic institutions in ‘Israel’ began suspending Palestinian students. Disciplinary files were opened about them in which their online activity was described as “support for terror”.
The report says this came as ‘Israeli’ state officials, including the minister of education, pressed universities to suspend Palestinian students and speed up disciplinary processes. In a number of instances, institutions went further and reported their own students to police, which led to arrests.
Adalah received more than 130 enquiries from students at nearly 40 universities and colleges, three-quarters of whom were female. The group provided legal representation or advice to 100 of them.
More than 80 students were placed on immediate suspension before any hearing was held. In 20 cases, students were either permanently expelled or suspended for between one and five years.
Social media policed
According to the report, a wide range of expressions triggered disciplinary proceedings. These included criticism of ‘Israeli’ government policy or the Israeli occupation forces (IOF). The genocide in Gaza and content related to the 7 October attacks were also banned topics.
Action was also taken against those posting about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. Religious expressions, including verses from the Qur’an, were also reasons to be disciplined. Sometimes, simply liking a post, displaying a Palestinian flag or the word “Palestine” was enough to trigger action against a student.
Systemic injustice
The report also identifies repeated structural problems in how these cases were handled.
A key issue was a shift in the burden of proof. Institutions were no longer required to show an offence had taken place. Instead, students were required to prove their posts did not amount to support for “terror”.
Universities also went beyond their legal powers when it came to Palestinian students. They policed their students’ private, off campus posts, which had no connection to academic study. Jewish-Israeli students didn’t face the same scrutiny, even when their posts included extreme, inciting or racist language.
These actions turned ‘Israeli’ academia into an institution that polices private expression. It also decides which forms of Palestinian identity, religion, solidarity and criticism are acceptable. After October 2023, ‘Israeli’ higher education institutions created two separate tracks of disciplinary law.
For Palestinian students, the institutions established an emergency “administrative track”. This was characterised by the expansion of academic institutions’ powers, the reduction of procedural protections, the use of vague tests, and the treatment of statements through a securitised lens based on ideas of loyalty and “enemy”.
Adalah says:
This system conditions Palestinian presence in higher education on total political compliance and self-censorship.
But when it comes to Jewish-Israeli students, the report claims the usual limits on authority and protections for freedom of expression were maintained, even for extreme speech. ‘Israeli’ universities largely ignored widespread posts by Jewish students who called for the annihilation and genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Racist posts aimed at Palestinian citizens of Israel and Palestinian students were also ignored.
Attacking the future of Palestinian people
‘Israel’ is intentionally seeking to make Palestinian students’ lives as difficult and uncomfortable as possible. Its campaign against them is also creating a chilling effect, pushing them towards self-censorship and weakening their sense of safety and belonging on campus.
By expelling, suspending and silencing Palestinian students, ‘Israel’ is not only punishing individuals; it is also attacking the future of an entire people.
Education is one of the few routes left for Palestinians, both in the occupied Palestinian territory and ‘Israel’ to build careers, support families and shape their communities. But ‘Israel’ is attempting to strip a generation of its chance to study, qualify and move forward, while the occupation tightens its grip on every aspect of Palestinian life.
Featured image via Tima Miroshnichenko/ Pexels
By Charlie Jaay
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