Israeli universities issue warning over judicial overhaul

The presidents of Israel’s universities issued a joint statement on Monday 23 January warning that the government’s plan to weaken the judicial system could cause a serious blow to academia resulting in a “brain drain”, writes Shira Kadari-Ovadia for Haaretz.

Israel’s university chiefs warned that weakening the justice system would lead to an international boycott of Israeli academia, with “international colleagues not coming to Israel, with restrictions on access to international research foundations, with foreign industries reluctant to cooperate with Israeli academics and with the exclusion of Israeli researchers from the international community of research and education”.

They called on the government to “refrain from a rapid constitutional change, which is being taken without a meaningful parliamentary and public conversation over the issues”. Adding that “the basic principles of the Declaration of Independence must be preserved, particularly those relating to the rights of minorities and human dignity”.
Full report on the Haaretz site