Tel Aviv University cancels lecture by Palestinian terror aide
Convicted terrorist Mohammad Kana'neh will not give Land Day lecture at university conference, due to 'concern for public order'; 'Justice has prevailed', say student groups who protested Kana'neh's participation.
Tel Aviv University announced on Sunday evening their decision to cancel the participation of Mohammad Kana'neh, who was imprisoned after being convicted of contacting a foreign agent, in a Land Day conference on campus scheduled to be held on Monday.
A statement released by the university explained the reason for cancelling Kana'neh's participation: "In light of concern for public order in the Land Day events scheduled to be held tomorrow, and since the request to approve Kana'neh's participation was only received recently, leaving no time for preparations, the University does not approve his participation in the event."
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Earlier Sunday, the students wings of Bayit Yehudi, Im Tirtzu, Likud and Yesh Atid announced that they would hold a two-hour strike from 8 am Monday to protest the lecture scheduled as part of the Land Day conference, organized by the Hadash and Al-Awda student groups. Following the decision, the planned strike was cancelled.
Nearly 300 students held a protest Sunday morning against the decision to allow Kana'ane to speak at the Land Day conference. Kana'neh had served 30 months in prison after being convicted of contacting a source working for Hezbollah and transferring information to Palestinian terror activists.
Last Thursday, the university's directors voiced a different opinion.
"The university maintains freedom of speech on campus, and it allows public activity initiated by the students in accordance with the rules of conduct of the State of Israel and previous court rulings, as long as the following conditions are kept: Keeping the law of the State of Israel; maintaining university regulations, procedures and property; keeping public order and the proper order of the teaching, research and work on campus. In the case in question, all of these conditions were met and thus the university approved the activity."
Earlier in the day, Gilad Arditi, chairman of Tel Aviv University Students Union, issued a letter to the various representatives of the political parties' student wings, writing that the Union had turned to the university administration as early as Thursday, in demand to record the scheduled lecture as to ensure that no words of incitement are said.
He added that "we held discussions with the Hadash student group and university administration to figure how on the one hand we can hold an activity permitted by the law, and on the other hand, how to prevent a chaos on campus and hurt feelings of students."
"As public representatives, we must remember and understand that we represent all students on campus, and that our actions and statements have meaning. We should not fall into a dissenting, excluding discourse. It's our responsibility to enable discourse and student activity from all sides of the political spectrum, out of a belief that the student body is diverse and holds a variety of different opinions."
The four student groups leading the protest to cancel Kana'neh's participation praised the university's decision.
"Justice has prevailed and terrorism lost. We congratulate the university's decision to withdraw their approval for Kana'neh's participation. We proved that terrorism is not part of an academic discourse and that a university in Israel does not lend a hand to terrorism. The strike tomorrow is cancelled and classes will be held as usual."
