JERUSALEM: The Zionist entity's Education Minister Yoav Kisch threatened on Tuesday to revoke funding for universities in the entity that hold events to commemorate the Palestinian Nakba, or catastrophe, after student groups began their annual demonstrations. "Academia is not a platform for incitement under the guise of freedom of expression," Kisch wrote in a post on X. He said he had appealed to Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich to revoke funding for the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University following events that took place on their campuses with their support Smotrich later said in a statement that he supported the move and would "instruct the professional authorities to immediately act on revoking the funding".

Tension in the Zionist entity around marking the Nakba, which refers to the forced displacement of an estimated 700,000 Palestinians when the entity was created more than seven decades ago, are nothing new. Many Zionists view the commemorations as a veiled attempt to undermine the state's existence and, for decades, discussion of the Nakba was largely absent from public life.

Today, however, with no just solution to the Palestinian predicament in sight, young Palestinians in the entity have become more public and assertive in their demands for recognition of what happened to their people. Palestinian student groups at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem said on Monday that commemorating Nakba Day, traditionally marked on May 15, was even more essential this year "as the genocide against our people in Gaza continues". "Let us raise our voices against this genocide and displacement," a statement from the groups said, adding that they would pass the day reading letters and poems from people in the war-torn territory.

Both Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University said in statements that they supported their students' rights to mark the day and called the minister's threats illegal. "Tel Aviv University categorically rejects the Minister of Education's appalling threats to take illegal action and withhold funding from the university," Tel Aviv University said in a statement.

The university said that under the law, "demonstrations initiated by students on Nakba Day, which is held at most universities (in the Zionist entity), are protected by the freedom of expression and protest." The Hebrew University responded similarly, saying that Kisch's "directive is without any legal foundation or statutory support". "The Hebrew University is committed to fostering coexistence across all sectors of Israeli society," the statement said. "As part of its dedication to freedom of expression, the university ensures that diverse voices can be heard — embracing complexity in dialogue and encouraging mutual respect."

Kisch responded on X that embracing such events "prevents academic freedom," and that "any students who think that Nakba Day is a national day of mourning are invited to study at Birzeit University and not at the university of the first Zionist city in (the entity)." Birzeit is a major university in the occupied West Bank. Kisch said that under the law, institutions supporting Nakba Day activities should expect to have their budgets denied. — AFP