Is the Government Afraid of Losing Control Due to Knowledge Creation?

Similarly, the bombing of Gaza’s Islamic University in 2009, supposedly targeting a Hamas cultural symbol, resulted in casualties and again restricted academic freedom. ‘I have exams coming soon in my university and I want to study but I can’t in this situation. So they affect my future, the future of all students here. […]’1 These events represent just a tiny amount of the challenges faced by Palestinian educational institutions due to Israeli interference, they highlight the urgent need for attention and advocacy.In the previous decades, numerous policies have been introduced to restrict Palestinian higher education. The primary aim of these methods, starting from limiting the movement of students, censoring Palestinian professors and arriving at putting restrictions on subjects that could be taught, was to undermine Palestinian economic development and the distribution of knowledge, influencing intellectual self-determination within educational institutions. Knowledge is always viewed as something that scares the authorities, it could be used to mobilise younger Palestinian generations against colonial rules of Israel. The ways in which these rights are violated in the context of the Palestinian occupation are various and broad, mainly because they manifest themselves every time access to university and school is made more

difficult or obstructed in any way.

ISRAEL
Israel is a society with a strong higher education system. Debates surrounding freedom often intersect with questions about national identity, security concerns and freedom of expression. While Israeli universities generally operate with autonomy, contentious issues related to government oversight, political interference or academic boycotts have sparked discussions, within both academic circles and society at large.

THE PROPOSAL OF A NEW “ETHICS CODE” IN ISRAEL
In 2016, Education Minister Naftali Bennett pushed for the implementation of an “ethics code” aimed at regulating the expression of political views among Israeli university professors. Bennett sought the approval of the Israeli State Council to implement this code across all educational institutes in Israel. In the official site of the government2 regularly detailed the proposal for the ethic code that would have represented a major reform in the Israel Civil Service3. Bennett clarified that his proposal wasn’t intended to restrict academic freedom but rather to prevent lectures from being dominated by political agendas. Despite Bennett’s assurances, numerous professors opposed the code, viewing it as a direct infringement of their academic liberties. They publicly rejected the proposed code, asserting that the government lacked the authority to dictate acceptable expressions within academia.
The new ‘ethics code’ proposed by the Israeli government formalizes what is often an implicit policy. The updated ethical code incorporates guidelines for professional conduct that reflect ethical norms and address contemporary needs and technological advancements. These guidelines aim to define the expected conduct for civil servants, both professionally and ethically, serving as a guiding compass to fulfill their intricate and vital responsibilities in office management. This proposal represents an evident assault to Israel’s academic freedom by the part of those who should safeguard it through legal and institutional provisions.

CONCLUSION
Given the circumstances it is essential to understand more about the aspects of academic freedom in Palestine and Israel, by comprehending historical injustices, power dynamics and conflicting narratives. This comprehensive examination helps us understand the challenges that scholars, students and institutions face while emphasizing the role of education in promoting dialogue, reconciliation and mutual understanding to achieve peace and justice. We worked to create a report that could spread awareness about the situation of academic freedom in these countries as everyone should be able to express and pursue their knowledge freely. Every person aware of the situation helps to get closer to equality and human rights for everyone in Israel and Palestine.

SUGGESTED LINKS
In order to achieve the goal of our research, we are gonna provide a few useful resources to stay updated and aware of the current situation. The following ‘Linktree’ contains different sources, including our group’s research and other reports from the past, that are going to portray the concrete situation and to investigate the status of academic freedom inside a geo-political and humanitarian delicate framework.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Aurora Gastaldello is a student from University of Trento, studying ‘International Studies – Cooperation and Development’ at the Faculty of Sociology and Social Research.Anna Braido Lusso is a student from University of Trento, studying ‘Comparative European and International Legal Studies’ at the Faculty of Law.

The article was written in the scope of a student advocacy project in support and spread awareness about academic freedom in Israel and Palestine. The project was part of the Jean Monnet Course on ‘Academic Freedom and Human Rights: European and International Perspective’ at the University of Trento.

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