Arab student event cancelled after key activities banned

An event scheduled to take place on Wednesday to mark the opening of the academic year for Arab students at Ben-Gurion University in the southern Israeli city of Be’er Sheva was cancelled, after the university’s administration decided to scrap certain key parts of it without providing a reason, writes Nati Yefet for Haaretz.

The event, which was organised by the student union, included a daytime fair and a musical performance in the evening. However, the university refused to approve key elements of the daytime event – a Bedouin tent, and booths in which stickers with Arabic writing and traditional Arabic art were sold. The university also disqualified two female artists, Rola Azar and Aya Khalaf, from performing at the event.

“Following the decision [to cancel the musical performances], we were informed that there are quite a few students who do not intend to come, so we cancelled [the whole event] in order not to invest tens of thousands of shekels,” said the chairman of the student union in Ben-Gurion University, Barak Dvir.
Full report on the Haaretz site