Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, a Palestinian professor at a prominent Israeli university, has weighed in on the Gaza war for the first time by signing a letter with academics from around the world calling for a ceasefire. The letter characterizes Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip as “genocide,” and her university’s leadership has responded by saying Urge her to resign.
That was shortly after the outbreak of the war on Oct. 7. Months later, the professor received more attention for saying it was time to “abolish Zionism” and accusing Israel of politicizing rape. She was briefly suspended in March from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she had taught law and social work for nearly 30 years. But right-wing Israeli politicians demanded harsher punishment, and in April police detained her overnight.
Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian, 64, told The New York Times: “I have been persecuted and defamed, my scholarship has been suppressed, my home and even my own bedroom have been invaded.”
The professor is currently under investigation for inciting terrorism – a crime punishable by up to five years in prison. Although she has not yet been charged, her case has sparked a profound debate in Israel about the suppression of free speech and academic freedom since the war began more than eight months ago.
The professor’s lawyers say she is being punished for her political views, as other Israeli professors and students worry that the country’s universities, which have long championed values of relative diversity and openness, have fostered the suppression of dissent.
While universities argue they are simply trying to keep their campuses calm, critics say there is a clear double standard in Israeli society: Violent speech by Israeli Jews against Palestinians is often ignored, while Palestinian citizens of Israel who express support for Palestinians in Gaza or criticize the conduct of the war face disciplinary action or even criminal investigation.
Police records show that as of May, 162 indictments for inciting terrorism have been filed since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel. Almost every case involves Arab citizens of Israel or Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem who have been accused of inciting terrorism, according to Adalah, the Israeli legal center for Arab minority rights. Mostly rejected After Israel annexed the region, it offered citizenship to them.
Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian is one of about 500 Israeli Arab citizens facing police attacks Incitement investigation.Dozens of students have also been disciplined by universities for expressing religious beliefs in ambiguous terms or posting statistics and images that contradict Israel’s war narrative, Adalah reported.
Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s case has attracted more attention than most because she is a globally renowned academic who is now under criminal investigation for speech she has made about a subject she has studied for decades.
“Violent extremism has taken control of and politicized the criminal justice and academic systems, and in my case it has reached new heights,” she said. “This violent extremism has demonized Palestinians.”
The professor, who is of Armenian Palestinian descent, was born in the Israeli city of Haifa and graduated from the Hebrew University, where she received her doctorate in law in 1994. Her work focuses on trauma, state crime, gender violence, law and society, and genocide studies.
Over the past two decades, she has lectured around the world and served as a visiting professor at universities such as Georgetown University in Washington, often with a mix of anger and academic jargon.
Abeer Otman, who studied for his doctorate under Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s supervision, said Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian was also the kind of professor who would be quick to hold someone’s hand when they were talking about a traumatic experience, or to arrange for a lawyer to someone who needed one.
But even before October 7, Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s speeches and interviews, especially in the United States, had already focus The concern was further heightened by her continued comments after she signed an open letter mentioning genocide, a pro-Israel watchdog group.
exist podcast In an interview with American academics on March 6, she said it was time to “abolish Zionism” and called it a crime. She also questioned whether the Israeli government’s account of rape during the October attack was true.
“If that doesn’t happen,” she said, “then it’s shameful that the state is using women’s bodies and sexuality to further its political agenda, further dispossession of land, further killing.”
The latest report released Wednesday by the United Nations Commission of Inquiry into the October 7 attack documents cases of sexual violence during the attack and among some of the abductees.
However, after reviewing testimonies of rape obtained by journalists and Israeli police, the commission said it could not independently verify the rape allegations “due to lack of access to victims, witnesses and crime scenes, and obstruction of the investigation by Israeli authorities.”
Israel has not cooperated with the investigation, the report said. Hamas denies its members sexually abused people in captivity or during attacks.
Amid the swirl of conflicting accounts, in mid-March a right-wing Israeli news channel edited a video version of the professor’s podcast interview, removing warnings and context. Clip The edit was widely circulated.
The Hebrew University suspended the professor, explaining in a March 14 letter to students and faculty that “one of the most important values of the social work profession is to always believe and stand with the victim, so it is not possible to teach social work and claim that rape did not happen.”
On March 27, Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian met with school leaders and said that as a feminist researcher, she believed all victims and that she did not deny that the rape did occur on October 7. She was then allowed to return to her teaching position.
In early April, right-wing members of the Israeli Knesset call They called for her dismissal and for police to investigate whether she was suspected of inciting others. They called for financial sanctions against the Hebrew University to increase pressure to expel her.
Then, on April 18, police arrested the professor at her home in East Jerusalem. Her lawyer said she was ill at the time, but had to spend the night in a cold, cockroach-infested cell despite having faced no charges.
The next day, police and prosecutors asked to extend her detention, but a judge rejected the request and released her.
In the following weeks, Israeli authorities interrogated Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian in several 17-hour sessions, delving into her books and views on various topics, according to her lawyers.
Mazen Masri, a senior lecturer in law at City University London and a member of the professor’s legal team, said: “The police exceeded their powers by asking her for other statements and views.”
Her lead lawyer in Jerusalem, Alaa Mahajna, said: “The message is clear – no one will be allowed to oppose the Zionist consensus.”
Israel’s police and Ministry of National Security did not respond to requests for comment.
Days after Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian was arrested, faculty members at the Hebrew University’s criminology department denounced her on television, saying her research was politically influenced. Hebrew University leadership responded by saying that while some of her research papers and books “may appear to be unfounded, they have gone through a professional peer review process.”
In interviews, several Jewish Israeli professors of law and other disciplines said that while they disagreed with some or all of the professor’s views, they felt betrayed not only by the police but by the leadership of many universities for not speaking out more strongly in support of free speech.
Ariel Porat, president of Tel Aviv University and a law professor, said it was the first time he could remember a professor being detained in Israel for his speech.
“I think it’s a terrible thing to arrest her,” he said.
The Hebrew University also issued a statement the day after the professor was detained, calling for her release as soon as possible. But some faculty members said the university had not done enough to defend free speech and her suspension had started a cycle of persecution.
Shlomi Segall, a professor of political philosophy at the Hebrew University, attended a small demonstration outside the police station in late April as Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian was being questioned. He wore a white T-shirt with the words, in Hebrew: “They are taking away our democracy. Are you happy with that?”
“We are seeing the bastions of democracy crumbling,” he said.
Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian was called back for further questioning a few days later and she said the case would not keep her silent.
“I am a strong woman,” she told The Times. “We should also remember that this terrible ordeal is nothing compared to what is going on with women, children, doctors, academics and almost everyone else in Gaza,” she added. “We should not ignore their suffering.”
