SPME Condemns Death Threat to Israeli Academic

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Toward the end of June, Professor Neve Gordon, Department of Political Science, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, received a death threat in the mail from an unidentified source. The letter said: “Gordon, you are a traitor!! I will reach Ben Gurion to kill you.!! Signed, Im Tirzu.” It was written in an immature Hebrew handwriting, akin to that of a grade schooler or unlettered adult. Im Tirzu (“If you will it”) is a grass-roots movement opposed to what it perceives to be Professor Gordon’s extreme political agitation which threatens the security of the State of Israel.

Spokespersons from Im Tirzu said they knew nothing of such a threat.

On June 22, University President Rivka Carmi wrote a strong letter (excerpted below) protesting and condemning this death threat, and calling for civil and reasoned discourse in the academic debate about current Israeli politics.

“This letter is a crossing of a red line which all of us, without regard to religion, political stance, communal affiliation, or other self-definition, must condemn and denounce.

Political discourse in Israel is difficult, extreme and polarizing. We walk a fine line between our commitments to democracy and its values, such as freedom of expression and freedom of speech, and our commitments to the security, the strength and the future of our state.

The debate is piercing and painful, and each side is convinced of the absolute and utter truth of its stand…..But however much we oppose and disdain the opinion of the “other,” death threats constitute a crime, plain and simple…..and it is our duty to guard most assiduously against it.

Ben Gurion University of the Negev will not tolerate the fomentation of hatred of any sort, nor accommodate verbally or physically threatening behavior, and will work uncompromisingly to prevent their occurrence.”

The Board of Directors of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East wishes to join Professor Carmi in condemning the recent death threat against Professor Gordon. Although many of us fervently disagree with views that Prof. Gordon has publicly expressed, death threats as a response to anyone’s views are violations of freedom of expression. Death threats to academics also represent an escalation of the incivility that increasingly debases discourse on campus.

Other academics and intellectuals with views opposed to those of Professor Gordon have also received death threats in recent years. If the issuer of the threat seriously intends violence to the target, the threat should be treated as a crime, and the perpetrator should be tracked down and prosecuted. If not, the threat is merely grandiose posturing, but is nonetheless problematic because it constitutes intimidation. As such, it is likely to backfire, earning sympathy for the target and ridicule for the perpetrator. We urge all university administrations to take such threats seriously, to condemn them unequivocally, and to take appropriate action against perpetrators.

Professor Edward S. Beck, Co-Founder and Past President, SPME and Chair, SPME Task Force on BDS said: “Despite my profound differences with Prof. Gordon, and desire to see him held accountable for his rhetoric, SPME’s ongoing efforts opposed to academic boycotts against Israel since 2005 have always denounced violence against those with whom we disagree. We trust our institutional and legal codes and peer review processes will hold accountable all those who promote processes antithetical to the principles of academic freedom.”

SPME Condemns Death Threat to Israeli Academic

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David Meir-Levi


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