Despite university leaders’ claims that there is no incitement to terror on campuses, C14 has obtained an official Council for Higher Education document showing that cases of incitement and terror support have been reported at multiple institutions across the country.
The document surfaced following an inquiry by Education Committee Chairman MK Tzvi Sukkot to the Council for Higher Education, after the committee held hearings on the issue in recent months. During those hearings, university presidents claimed “there is no incitement to terror in academia,” and later announced they would boycott further Education Committee sessions on the grounds that the premise was false.
The document reveals data on several institutions where complaints were filed regarding incidents involving incitement, expressions of support for terrorism, problematic publications, and suspicions investigated by the relevant authorities. The document further shows that in some cases disciplinary measures were taken, in other cases institutional investigations and treatment were conducted, and in some instances incidents were reported involving support for terrorism or expressions of identification with hostile entities—in complete contradiction to the sweeping claim that the phenomenon doesn’t exist at all.
Education Committee Chairman MK Tzvi Sukkot, who was briefed on the report, responded: “The enemy within is operating in academic institutions. The incitement continues and university leaders prefer to bury their heads in the sand and deny documented reality.”
Sukkot clarified that he plans to advance, together with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, an examination of withholding budgets from academic institutions where incitement to terror has occurred, alongside a demand that enforcement bodies provide a briefing on how incitement incidents at higher education institutions are being handled and what is needed to prevent their recurrence.
According to Sukkot, “While the State of Israel is in a multi-front existential war from Iran to Lebanon, the enemy within is operating. The incitement continues and university leaders prefer to bury their heads in the sand and deny documented reality. The official documents of the Council for Higher Education explicitly contradict their claim.”
He added: “The truth is coming to light. After they claimed there is no incitement to terrorism in academia, the official documents tell a different story. There are incidents, there are complaints, there are cases that were handled, and therefore there is full justification for cutting budgets from academic institutions based on existing law.”