A group of Israeli academics have called for a general strike condemning Israel's military operations in the besieged Gaza Strip and warned of "silence in the face of mass suffering".
Professors Inbal Arnon, Ido Katri, and Zohar Weiman-Kelman denounced Israel's ongoing "population transfers, starvation and mass killings in Gaza" as "proof that the line has been crossed".
"There is a point when academia cannot remain silent. We will strike, to shatter the illusion of normalcy, to stop the complicity, to break the silence," they told Haaretz.
The call comes as the situation in Gaza has deteriorated sharply in recent months, with entire neighbourhoods, hospitals, schools, and water facilities reduced to rubble.
The higher education system in Gaza has effectively collapsed under relentless bombardment, with no denial from Israeli authorities, who justify the destruction as "a necessity".
Meanwhile, Palestinians remain trapped amid siege conditions, facing starvation and imminent death.
'Moral imperative'
The scholars said it is a "moral imperative" for Israeli academia to break the normality, adding: "If we continue to teach, conduct research and attend conferences, we continue to be complicit in the silence that enables the ongoing destruction and killing."
The Israeli jurists have also condemned Israel's military actions in the past, with university leaders pledging to strike to protect democratic checks and balances.
They warned that "the boundary set by Israeli university heads is not a formal one. It is crossed when the government ceases to be subject to effective oversight," a condition present in today's Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli Supreme Court's failure to intervene in military actions has further deepened the constitutional crisis. "The Supreme Court behaves as if the judicial overhaul has already been passed... the government acts as if it has no limitations," they added.
Over 1,300 lecturers have publicly signed the letter and declared that they "cannot remain silent in the face of indiscriminate killing and systematic destruction", raising black flags across campuses in protest.
As Israel's blockade on Gaza continues, over 61,700 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023, while the health sector has also collapsed, with most of the territory's health centres and hospitals now fully destroyed or left only partially functioning.