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Beersheba University rejects political pressure by British donor

Senior Yakobo KELLER
30 Frug St. Apartado 2
Tel Aviv MIKUD 6341732
ISRAELE Nueva Espaniola

http://m.jpost.com/Israel-News/Donor-withholds-1m-from-BGU-over-Breaking-

the-Silence-panel-
455179#article=6017Q0Q2MjQyNjkxRTE0MTgxRDc1NTYzMjc4MjU0MDIxNTk=

Donor withholds $1m. from BGU over Breaking the Silence panel
By LIDAR GRAVֹ-LAZI
Fri, 27 May 2016, 04:35 AM

BGU: Unaware of pledge by businessman to donate any sum

Photo by: WWW.PIKIWIKI.ORG.IL
A prominent British donor is withholding a $1 million donation from Ben
Gurion University of the Negev to protest the school’s sponsorship of a
conference that includes members of Breaking the Silence, The Jerusalem Post
has learned.

British businessman Michael Gross, a longstanding member of the Beersheba
university’s board of governors, explained his decision to withhold the
donation in a letter to the Post.

“Next Monday, Ben-Gurion University will officially sponsor a conference by
leading figures and supporters of Breaking the Silence. This is effectively
financed by the Israeli government and ignorant foreign donors, but
absolutely nothing is done about it,” he wrote.

The conference, titled, “Whistle-blowing throughout the ages. And today...,”
was organized by the department of Jewish history in the Faculty of
Humanities and Social Sciences.

The conference title in Hebrew, “Shovrei Shtika,” can be translated as
“Whistle- blowing,” or as “Breaking the Silence,” the name of the NGO that
publishes anonymous testimony from soldiers on alleged IDF abuses.

Speakers at the conference will include Yuli Novak, CEO of Breaking the
Silence, and Nadav Weiman, the organization’s public-relations coordinator,
who will speak on the closing panel and offer a “personal testimony.”

Gross wrote in his letter that, “as one of the longest- standing governors
of the university, I intend to withhold a gift of $1 million which otherwise
I would have pledged at the forthcoming Board of Governors meeting. It is
about time the activities of these self-hating Jews, traitors to the
country, are curtailed and not allowed to continue under the bogus claim of
academic freedom.

“If the Israeli government hasn’t got the guts to do anything, at least
Israeli and foreign donors should set an example,” he said.

In a conversation with the Post on Thursday, Gross confirmed that he
intended to withhold the donation, which would have gone toward
scholarships.

Gross added that his was not the only donation withdrawn from the university
because of what he characterized as anti-Zionist activity, and that at least
one other donor had taken back an $8m. gift in the past.

“The Israeli government talks about BDS, but there is no use talking about
BDS abroad when it is going on in your own country,” he said.

BGU denied Gross’s claims and told the Post in a written response: “Ben-
Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) is unaware of any pledge, promise or
commitment by Michael Gross to donate $1m. or any other sum. In fact, in
light of Mr. Gross’s numerous and continued attacks on the university, its
president and its academic staff, the university has decided to return his
most recent donation of $100,000 – his first significant donation in many
years.

“BGU is a pluralistic academic institution that promotes and enables an open
and diverse dialogue and does not espouse or endorse a particular political
viewpoint.

The role of academia is to research and study past and current trends, and
on the basis of that research to promote a critical discourse that asks
questions and deepens our knowledge about historical, cultural and
scientific issues. Such has ever been and remains the role of academia and
is the foundation of a democratic society.

“As such, despite the longterm agitation by Michael Gross, he was reelected
to the Board of Governors two years ago because, as a pluralistic
institution that values freedom of expression, BGU welcomes all points of
view. However, considering his ongoing malicious and false accusations, we
are unclear as to why Mr. Gross wishes to retain a post on the board, a
position he may resign from at any time,” the university continued.

“The conference is an academic one organized by BGU’s department of Jewish
history about whistle-blowing through the ages. The term ‘breaking the
silence’ in Hebrew is interchangeable with ‘whistle-blowing.’ “However, the
title should not detract from the focus of the conference, which will
largely address historical and current aspects of whistle-blowing, examining
various phenomena in literature, history, philosophy and art. All of the
academics who will be speaking are leading researchers and the topic of the
conference is central to their research,” the school said.

BGU said one of the conference sessions will be on the topic of whistle-
blowing in current Israeli discourse and include representatives of various
viewpoints, moderated by one of Israel’s leading Holocaust scholars. Among
the nonacademic representatives will be Yair Sheleg and Dror Eydar
(affiliated with the Right) and representation from the left-wing Breaking
the Silence group.

The conference, the university said, will be composed of three sessions:
Ancient Times (Socrates); the Middle Ages (Galileo); and Modern Times in
France (Zola and Sartre), Germany (Thomas Mann), the United States (the
Jewish minority and McCarthyism) and Israel (Natan Alterman and Yeshayahu
Leibowitz).

An additional lecture will be devoted to Eugטne Ionesco’s 1959 play
Rhinoceros – an anti-Nazi drama that demonstrates how anyone can fall victim
to collective, unconscious thought by allowing his will to be manipulated by
others.

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