Source: Scheerpost
Palestinian Scholar Detained by Israeli Police for Alleged Incitement to Terrorism
By Talia Mullin / Original to ScheerPost
Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, a Palestinian professor of social work and law at Hebrew University in Jerusalem faced suspension and arrest following her public criticisms of Zionism and the recent devastating escalation in Gaza.
Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian is a globally respected scholar who has taught for nearly three decades at Hebrew University with visiting professorships at universities such as Georgetown in Washington D.C. Shalhoub-Kevorkian has a Ph.D in law and has focused her work on state crimes, trauma, law and society, gender violence and genocide studies..
Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s punishment is not the first time she and other scholars have faced backlash for their critiques of the Israeli state. The new development of potential legal action taken against an internationally recognized scholar for alleged crimes relating to their academic expertise has sparked debate about academic freedom and the repression of free speech in the self-proclaimed “only democracy in the Middle East.”
Although she has yet to be indicted, Shalhoub-Kevorkian is under investigation for the crime of incitement to terrorism which could mean serving up to five years in prison. However, Shalhoub-Kervokian has already spent one night in an Israeli jail cell due to her political positions, from the perspective of her lawyers, rather than any concrete incitements of violence.
The 64-year-old Shalhoub-Kevorkian told The New York Times:
“I have been persecuted and defamed, my academic production of knowledge flattened and my home and even my own bedroom invaded.”
May 2024 police records show that in the six months since the Oct. 7 attack, there have been 167 “incitement to terrorism” indictments filed in Israel. According to Adalah – a legal center which advocates for the rights of the Arab minority in Israel – the majority of those accused are Arab citizens of Israel and Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, many of whom declined acceptance of Israeli citizenship following Israel’s annexation of the area.
Shalhoub-Kevorkian is one of over 500 Arab-Israeli citizens who have been subject to criminal investigation for incitement. Many students, historically and presently, have also faced disciplinary action for challenging Israel’s narrative of a war or political dissent.
Her first “infraction” came shortly after Oct. 7 when she, along with many other academics worldwide, signed a letter which demanded a cease-fire and described Israel’s assault on Gaza as “genocide.”
Hebrew University President Asher Cohen and university rector Tamir Sheafer sent the professor a letter calling for her resignation as a result of her support and signing of the petition titled “Childhood researchers and students call for immediate ceasefire in Gaza.”
Other academics and scholars from American universities, as well as Hebrew University, condemned the comments made by university officials and many agreed that, although they may not agree with some or any of her beliefs, they were concerned about the many universities who failed to stand more strongly in favor of free expression.
A few months later, in March, Shalhoub-Kervokian appeared on the Makdisi Street podcast where she spoke with the three brothers who host the show. Their discussion ranged from what life is like for Palestinians in the West Bank, the increase of violence in the West Bank related to the escalation in Gaza, media portrayal of Palestinians as well as Zionism as an Israeli settler colonial project.
Despite the interview lasting nearly two hours, only a few of her comments were picked out and shared without proper context by pro-Israel groups and went viral. In the widely shared clips, Shalhoub-Kervokian described Zionism as criminal and that the time to abolish it had come.
Additionally, her skepticism regarding the Israeli government’s certainty and propagation of the claim that mass sexual violence occurred on Oct. 7 despite a lack of evidence, was subject to great scrutiny from the pro-Israel public as well as her university officials.
The professor of social work said, “If it didn’t happen, it’s shame on the state to use women’s bodies and sexuality to promote political agendas, to promote further dispossession of land, to promote further killing.”
Reporters Damien Cave and Rawan Sheik Ahmad, reporting on the issue from Jerusalem and Haifa for the New York Times, wrote:
“Hebrew University suspended the professor, explaining in a March 14 letter to students and faculty that ‘one of the most important values of the social work profession is that you always believe and side with the victims so it is not possible to teach social work while declaring that rape didn’t happen.’
After Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian met with university leaders on March 27 and told them that as a feminist researcher, she believes all victims, and that she did not deny there were rapes on Oct. 7, she was allowed to return to teaching.”
Unhappy with her short-lived suspension, right-wing members of Israel’s Parliament called for her removal from her teaching position, a police investigation of her alleged incitement and pressed for economic sanctions on Hebrew University to increase the likelihood of her being deposed.
On April 18, Israeli police broke into the Shalhoub-Kervokian’s home in East Jerusalem and detained her. According to the Guardian, she was “strip-searched, handcuffed so tightly it caused pain, denied access to food, water, and medication for several hours, and held in a cold cell without adequate clothing or blankets.”
Being held without charge, she was forced to stay overnight in uncomfortable conditions but was allowed to return home the next day, despite prosecutors’ and police efforts to lengthen her detention which were rejected by a judge.
According to her lawyers, in the weeks that followed, the Palestinian professor was subject to over 17 hours of interrogation where Israeli authorities questioned her views on a variety of subjects and even the books she has written.
Protests broke out in response to her arrest with one professor of political philosophy at Hebrew University, Shlomi Segall, wearing a shirt that said, “They are taking away our democracy. Are you fine with it?” Segall is quoted by the New York Times saying, “We see every citadel of democracy crumbling.”
Shalhoub-Kevorkain’s lead lawyer, Alaa Mahajna, said “The message is clear – no dissent from the Zionist consensus is allowed.”
There is no evidence to suggest the professor’s remarks have incited any kind of terrorism. Her critiques and dissent have been widely recognized by international organizations like the United Nations. A U.N. commission concluded they could not independently verify the allegations “due to a lack of access to victims, witnesses and crime sites and the obstruction of its investigations by the Israeli authorities.” Additionally, the United Nations’ report said that Israel refused to cooperate with the investigation and Hamas denied the allegations of sexual abuse during the attack or captivity.
Similarly, her claim of Zionism being a colonial, and therefore criminal, venture has been corroborated for over a century by architects of Zionism themselves like Ze’ev (Vladmir) Jabotinsky. In his 1923 essay, “The Iron Wall,” Jabotinsky wrote, “Zionist colonisation must either stop, or else proceed regardless of the native population.”
Cave and Sheik Ahmad wrote, “While universities argue they are simply trying to keep campuses calm, critics say there is a clear double standard across Israeli society: Violent rhetoric toward Palestinians from Jewish Israelis is often brushed aside while Palestinian citizens of Israel who express support for Palestinians in Gaza or criticize the conduct of the war face discipline or even criminal investigation.”
Thousands of Palestinians remain held without charge and subject to torture in Israeli detention centers in the West Bank. As Shalhoub-Kevorkian sees it, her treatment is all part of a larger perception of Palestinians as savage individuals who must be feared and therefore contained:
“Violent extremism has been allowed to overtake and politicize the criminal justice and academic systems, and has reached new levels in my case. This violent extremism has served to demonize Palestinians.”
Shalhoub-Kevorkian emphasized that while her treatment has been “horrible,” it “…pales in comparison with what women, children, doctors, academics, and practically everyone in Gaza is going through. We should not lose our focus on their suffering.”
on Palestinian Scholar Detained by Israeli Police for Alleged Incitement to Terrorism