Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Haifa Seven - Solidarity with Haifa (Israel) anti-racist students

Ian Duncan Smith | 09.08.2007 19:07 | Anti-racism | Palestine | Social Struggles

The Haifa university has penelised students for holding an anti-racist demo against coments made by the student union.


*Solidarity with the Haifa Seven!*

* *

*Protest the harassment of seven Jewish and Arab students from Haifa
University,*

* who held a peaceful anti-racist picket on campus!*

On Wednesday (4.7), a few dozen Jewish and Arab students at Haifa
University, held a quiet protest on campus, in response to racist
remarks made by the Haifa University Students Union (HUSU) spokesperson,
*Saar Ziv*, when interviewed by a local newspaper. In the protest
organized by the local student club of the Democratic Front for Peace
and Equality (DFPE - Communist Party of Israel), the protesting students
held hands to form a human chain across campusTheir mouths were covered
in duct tape as they were holding signs that read, in Hebrew and Arabic:
"Let the Students Union Know -- It is Better to SHUT UP than SPEAK RACISM".

The University officials, which are generally hostile towards any
student political activity, and especially the activities of Arab
students, has charged seven of the protesting students, both Jewish and
Arab, with "Provoking a commotion" and "Wild behavior". The *Haifa
Seven, *who are to be put in front of a disciplinary committee are: Rami
Hod, Reem Hazzan, Arik Zolfin, Osama Amer, Uri Weltmann, Remon Maalouf
and Elad Bardes.

"During our peaceful protest, we shut our mouth with duct tape to show
our objection to the racist talk, the kind of which came out of the
mouth of the HUSU spokesperson", said *Reem Hazan*, one of the Haifa
Seven. "Now it seems the university officials are keen to shut our
mouths by force, for enacting our right to freedom of speech and
expression. Had the university been sincere in claiming to uphold
pluralism and critical thinking, it would have given us its support,
rather than threatening to expel us".

The protest came about after an interview with the HUSU spokesperson to
a local newspaper, in which he made racist remarks towards the Arab
students in general, and towards the Arab Students Committee (ASC) in
particular. Around 25% of the students of Haifa University are Arabs,
and they annually elect the ASC as their independent representative
body. The HUSU spokesperson claimed that the "Arab Students Committee is
against co-existence", and wished the university would disallow its
activities. He further said that he hopes that Arab students "will
realize who constitutes the majority around here". After the protest
took place, the HUSU spokesperson was interviewed for the leading news
portal NRG.co.il, where he publicly apologized for his remarks.

"What's most absurd is that the university chose to charge with
disciplinary actions those Jewish and Arab students who participated
together in a nonviolent and peaceful protest", said *Rami Hod*, one of
the Haifa Seven. "But Rightwing activists from the HUSU held several
demonstrations, none of which was according to university regulations,
all of which almost resulted in violence". Hod recalled that when the
DFPE student club called for an on-campus Jewish-Arab demonstration on
June, to protest the ongoing occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip
and in support of the establishment of an independent Palestinian state
alongside Israel, the HUSU activists held a counter-protest,
unauthorized by the university. Nevertheless, the university officials
took no disciplinary steps towards them. In his opinion, this is a
conscious and deliberate policy of *Prof. Aaron Ben-Ze'ev*, President of
the University of Haifa, and* Prof, Yosi Ben-Artzi*, the Rector of the
university, designed to put down all anti-racist and anti-occupation
activities.

*During the coming months, the disciplinary committee will convene
several times to hear witnesses, discuss evidence, and decide whether to
convict and punish the Haifa Seven.*

*As the first disciplinary hearing of _August 13_ draws near, let Haifa
University officials know that *

*CURTAILING THE STUDENTS' FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS _UNEXCEPTABLE!_*__

*Contact Haifa University officials, and tell them that protesting
racism is not a crime, and that holding quiet and peaceful Jewish-Arab
pickets is to be commended, and not to be used as an excuse for expulsion. *

*Please let us know of your involvement, by sending us a copy of your
correspondence with the university officials. Contact us at
 _jabha.stud@gmail.com_ .***

President of the University of Haifa
Prof. Aaron Ben-Ze’ev
*Tel:* 972-4-8240101
*Fax:* 972-4-8240281
*E-mail:*  abenzeev@univ.haifa.ac.il

Rector of the University of Haifa
Prof. Yossi Ben-Artzi
*Tel:* 972-4-8240405
*Fax:* 972-4-8342101
*Email:*  yossib@univ.haifa.ac.il

Dean of Students of the University of Haifa
Prof. Ariel Bendor
*Tel:* 972-4-8240334/5
*Fax:* 972-4-8340319
*Email:*  _abendor@univ.haifa.ac.il_

Chairman of the Board of Govenors
Prof. Manfred Lahnstein

*Tel:* 972-4-8240093
*Fax:* 972-4-8342104

Chairman of the Executive Committee
Moshe Gavish

*Tel*.: 04-8249560, 8240585
*Fax*: 04-8342104

* *

Ian Duncan Smith

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech