Some 60 senior professors from Bar Ilan University signed a petition Monday calling for disciplinary measures to be taken against Professor Hillel Weiss who cursed an IDF officer during the evacuation of two families in Hebron last week.
"The undersigned, faculty and research members at Bar Ilan, strongly reject the slanderous statements made by Prof Weiss against a senior IDF officer in particular, and against the State of Israel and its institutions, elected officials and representatives in general," the petition said.
"As university employees, we wholeheartedly reject the attitudes and opinions emanating from his words, which stand in stark contradiction to the principles of the university in particular, and those of Judaism and the State of Israel in general.
"We support freedom of speech as part of the democratic way of life, but oppose rampant verbal abuse. As academics, we believe that critical thinking is highly important, as is the willingness, even the duty, to criticize. But criticism, even it is expressed in the heat of passion, must remain within the boundaries of the legitimate."
'Weiss made crazy comments'
The petitioners also called on the law enforcement authorities to investigate the affair, and said they supported the university president's decision to hold a disciplinary hearing for Weiss.
The petition's initiator, Prof Aren Maeir, said that Weiss "made crazy comments against an IDF officer and the state's institutions. He wrote an apology letter and then said that the university president pressured him to do so and that the university was controlled by Mapainic terrorists. We don't accept this, but we don't have the right to demand his resignation, because there's due process."
The university's spokesperson said in response to Weiss' letter, "Prof Hillel Weiss did well by apologizing for his harsh statements; better late than never. Prof Weiss' letter will be brought before the Ne'eman committee, which has been appointed by the university president and will convene next week to discuss and decide on Weiss' case."