The Department of Art History proposed the collaboration in the context of an interdisciplinary master’s program in Jewish Studies. It was to involve several other universities in addition to Ben Gurion University. However, the proposed program did not receive enough votes from the members of the Scientific and Teaching Council, and the reasons for opposition that were presented during the discussion concerned the actions of the State of Israel from last October until today.
We spoke with Dr. Nada Sekulić, a professor at the Faculty of Philosophy who stated for Mašina that the majority voted against the proposed program due to the connection of Ben Gurion University with the Israeli occupation of Palestine. She stressed that the vote against the collaboration occurred spontaneously during a meeting of the Scientific Teaching Council. It was not the result of a coordinated campaign by professors.
She explained to Mašina the connection between the Israeli state and Ben Gurion university, saying “Ben Gurion University actively supports the Israeli state and its actions in Gaza (now increasingly also in the West Bank). This results in the mass killing of the civilian population, among which a huge number are children (you may refer to data from the World Health Organization) and the devastation of the entire region while preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid and basic means of life, including water, which affect, often fatally, both humanitarian workers and journalists reporting on the situation on the ground.”
Furthermore, she highlighted the explicit ties between Ben Gurion University and Israel’s military apparatus, telling us: “Ben Gurion University also houses the National Security Institute, whose partners include leading Israeli arms companies and the Israeli Ministry of Defense. The Israeli army is building a technology campus next to the BGU campus, with the aim of further strengthening ties between the army and BGU.”
Ben Gurion University has also attacked those who oppose Israel’s genocide in Palestine. Dr. Sekulić recounts these instances, saying “Ben Gurion University also publicly accused the faculty members who signed the statement against the genocide in Gaza of tarnishing BGU’s reputation. Ben Gurion University, along with eight other Israeli universities, some of which were established on the territory of the illegally settled Israeli population suppressing the Palestinian population, publicly spoke out against the student protests taking place in universities around the world that oppose the destruction of the civilian population in Gaza.”
Prof. Sekulić emphasized the responsibility that members of the Faculty of Philosophy had in relation to this proposal. She tells us of the dangers of not doing so, writing “By collaborating with such a university, the Faculty of Philosophy, as a faculty that inherits as its greatest value critical thought and humanistic traditions, as well as a progressive vision of the world freed from racism and discrimination, would align itself with those who act exactly the opposite, while representing its institution as a carrier of cultural enlightenment. The implications of such cooperation in this difficult moment, in which all the principles of humanitarian law in war are being violated, with the danger of them becoming acceptable principles of waging new wars, are far-reaching.”
A.M.
