In Israel, the right-wing religious government wants to push through a judicial reform that will give it more power. Researchers fear that academic freedom will be restricted.
Six German science organizations warn against restricting academic freedom in Israel. The reason for concern is the government’s forthcoming judicial reform, according to a statement published by the Max Planck Society (MPG). The reform would massively restrict the powers of the Supreme Court and thus expand the power of the right-wing religious coalition around Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“There is already a document from the Israeli coalition, according to which funds are to be redistributed from science to religious educational institutions,” MPG President Patrick Cramer told the German Press Agency. “Religious freedom is of course important, but if science is shut down in favor of religious institutions, this will of course lead to major changes in society in the medium term.”
Cramer speaks of a “historical effect” that the reform could trigger. “The government could simply dry up research fields and support other research fields in a very targeted manner.” This happened in the USA, for example, when ex-President Donald Trump massively scaled back research in the environmental agency during his tenure. In Poland and Hungary, too, the government has severely restricted academic freedom in recent years.
This could now also threaten Israel, a country whose academic freedom is currently still rated as very high by experts from the V-Dem Research Institute – higher than in industrialized countries such as the USA, France or the United Kingdom. According to MPG President Cramer, the consequences would be fatal: “Imagine you no longer have any professors, then you no longer have any students either, then knowledge is lost, then people migrate abroad. Then certain research areas no longer exist at all.”
Thousands of people have been taking to the streets in Israel against the planned reform for more than six months. Opponents see the separation of powers and thus democracy in danger. Some even warn against the insidious introduction of a dictatorship. A key law of the government project is expected to be passed early next week.
Source: Stern
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