Scholar Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian Navigates Academic Freedom Challenges in Israel
Near the areas of devastation and loss in the Gaza Strip, the Arab Israeli scholar Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian has been embroiled in a separate conflict that concerns Palestinian rights and academic freedom in Israel.
Shalhoub-Kevorkian has faced consequences from her university, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and from the Israeli police for her outspoken criticism of Zionism and for questioning accounts of atrocities attributed to Hamas during its attacks inside Israel on 7 October 2023.
Shalhoub-Kevorkian holds the Lawrence D. Biele Chair at the Institute of Criminology within the Faculty of Law at the Hebrew University. She is also a full professor in the university’s School of Social Work and Social Welfare and holds the Global Chair in Law at Queen Mary University of London. Her research areas include social psychology, law and society, human suffering within contexts of alienation, and power dynamics and resilience.
Suspension and Reinstatement
Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s latest academic freedom-related crisis emerged about a month ago when she was suspended from teaching at the Hebrew University. The university took this action after she participated in a podcast interview on 9 March in which she advocated the abolition of Zionism and questioned the accuracy of reports of atrocities committed by Hamas during the 7 October attacks.
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem reinstated Shalhoub-Kevorkian after she “clarified that as a feminist researcher, she believes the victims and doesn’t doubt their claims, and she did not deny that there were incidents of rape on October 7.”
(Days earlier, a report by the U.N. special envoy for sexual violence had found there were “reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred” during the attacks and may be continuing against hostages still in captivity.)
In the podcast interview, Shalhoub-Kevorkian also said Israelis are afraid when they walk by and hear her speaking in Arabic, “and they should be afraid because criminals are always afraid. They cannot dispossess my land, they cannot displace my people. They cannot kill and not be afraid, so they’d better be afraid.”
She continued, “It’s time to abolish Zionism. It can’t continue, it’s criminal. Only by abolishing Zionism can we continue.”
In late March, however, the university reinstated her, citing a meeting Shalhoub-Kevorkian had with its rector, Professor Tamir Sheafer, in which she “clarified that as a feminist researcher, she believes the victims and doesn’t doubt their claims, and she did not deny that there were incidents of rape on October 7.”
The university did not ask Shalhoub-Kevorkian to walk back her claim that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, the Haaretz daily reported. Following the clarification, the university said it found no obstacle to reinstating her and that she would continue to teach in the School of Social Work and Social Welfare.
Arrest and Release
The crisis reignited on Thursday, 18 April, when Israeli police arrested her on suspicion of incitement. She was held at a police station for questioning but was released a day later, according to the Times of Israel, after a court ruled that the police’s findings did not justify the arrest.
“I want to stress that academia is a space where sharing diverse ideas is crucial. … I advocate for the abolition of Zionism due to its perceived violence towards people, leading to the commission of crimes.”
Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, speaking in a recent television interview
“There are some expressions that may have crossed the line from free expression to incitement,” wrote Judge Dov Pollock of the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court. “And yet, the question before the court is whether it is necessary to prolong her arrest on the suspicion that she poses a danger.
“I am unconvinced there is a need to continue her incarceration,” Judge Pollock concluded.
Despite its own previous action against Shalhoub-Kevorkian, the Hebrew University released a statement on Thursday condemning her arrest and demanding her immediate release. “The university is sharply opposed to many of the things that Prof. Shalhoub-Kevorkian said a month ago,” it said in a statement. “Nonetheless, we are extremely concerned about her arrest, if it is indeed based on the things she had said publicly.” It added that the arrest was contrary to the country’s democratic nature.
Navigating Free Speech Boundaries
During a recent televised interview, Shalhoub-Kevorkian discussed the constraints she had faced at the Hebrew University. “I want to stress that academia is a space where sharing diverse ideas is crucial,” she said. “… I advocate for the abolition of Zionism due to its perceived violence towards people, leading to the commission of crimes.”
She noted that during her suspension from teaching at the School of Social Work and Social Welfare at the Hebrew University, the dean had contacted her students, informing them that she was no longer in service at the university.
“This is the academic institution I’ve been part of for thirty years,” she said. “This is where I’ve taught and conducted my research. The fundamental questions persist: What can we teach? What should we write? What can we publish? What topics are permissible for discussion as scholars studying state criminality, as critics of ongoing state actions?
“When we witness the tragic deaths of infants in Gaza, their bodies left to decay in incubators, and I write about assaults on children and society, the scenes unfolding in Gaza and its descent into a mass grave speak volumes,” she continued. “It’s the epitome of an extremely violent ideology, and I believe it’s time to reassess the Zionist ideology because it commenced with violence, plunder, and numerous massacres.”
She mentioned the case of Rami, a 12-year-old Palestinian child from the Shuafat refugee camp, in East Jerusalem, who was shot and killed without any justification last month as he and other children lit fireworks to celebrate the end of another day of Ramadan.
International Support
International academic freedom advocacy groups have also protested the restrictions imposed on Shalhoub-Kevorkian.
In a strongly worded letter to the leadership of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, released on 21 March, the president of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and the chair of its Committee on Academic Freedom expressed profound dismay over how Shalhoub-Kevorkian was suspended from teaching duties.
“The fundamental questions persist: What can we teach? What should we write? What can we publish? What topics are permissible for discussion as scholars studying state criminality, as critics of ongoing state actions?”
Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian
The MESA leaders said that publicising the suspension letter, dated 12 March, was “a grievous violation of Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s academic freedom”, and its release “in the current atmosphere in Israel has served as an incitement to violence” against her.
The MESA leaders said that the Hebrew University’s letter had accused Shalhoub-Kevorkian of “enjoying the reputation of our prestigious institution” while “bringing shame” to the university by “cynically deploying … academic freedom and freedom of expression.”
MESA’s letter responded: “We suggest, rather, that the source of shame is the Hebrew University’s abandonment of its basic duties to ensure academic freedom and freedom of expression on its campus and by its faculty, researchers and students.”
MESA is a prominent organisation dedicated to promoting scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa.
Other academics and institutions have also expressed solidarity with Shalhoub-Kevorkian. Within a day of her arrest last week, nearly 120 academics from around the world had signed an open letter demanding her release, Middle East Monitor reported.
Birzeit University, in the West Bank, also denounced her detention, noting that it occurred “a month after an attempt to suspend her work at the Hebrew University, and following months of incitement against her in the entire Zionist media.”
It added: “These actions, aimed at silencing Palestinian and dissenting voices, are part of a larger strategy of genocide and suppression perpetuated by the settler-occupying state and its collaborating institutions, as part of efforts to undermine the Palestinian people and their cause.”
Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s Scholarship
Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian is an expert in trauma analysis in militarised and colonised regions. Her research focuses on state crimes against women and children, gendered violence, abuse of power in settler-colonial contexts, surveillance, and what she calls Israeli “security theology”.
“We suggest, rather, that the source of shame is the Hebrew University’s abandonment of its basic duties to ensure academic freedom and freedom of expression on its campus and by its faculty, researchers and students.”
Leaders of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA)
One of her notable publications is the book “Militarization and Violence against Women in Conflict Areas in the Middle East: A Palestinian Case Study” (Cambridge Studies in Law and Society). Other books she has written include “Security Theology, Surveillance and the Politics of Fear“, published by Cambridge University Press in 2015, and “Incarcerated Childhood and the Politics of Unchilding“, released in 2019.
She has also published articles in peer-reviewed journals, including “The Occupation of the Senses: The Prosthetic and Aesthetic of State Terror” in the British Journal of Criminology, which won the journal’s Radzinowicz Prize for best article in 2017.
A resident of the Old City in occupied East Jerusalem, Shalhoub-Kevorkian is also an active feminist activist involved in direct actions and dialogues aimed at challenging the Israeli authorities’ control over Palestinian families, particularly women and children, and the spheres of life and death.
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