ByYOAV ETIEL, AVIHAI CHIIMSEPTEMBER 11, 2026 11:41The Adalah organization, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, clashed with Israeli universities after it published a harsh report on Monday titled “Apartheid in Israeli Academia: Arab Students After October 7, 2023,” which claims that Israeli higher education institutions have implemented discriminatory disciplinary policies since the start of the war.Adalah claimed that the universities effectively created two separate tracks: a stricter track for Arab students, referred to as “Palestinian” students in the report, most of whom are Israeli citizens, and a more lenient track for Jewish students.The report, authored by Adalah attorneys Lubna Touma, Adi Mansour, and Mai Diab, and edited by Dr. Fadi Khoury with assistance from Tom Mahager and Dr. Hassan Jabareen, reviews proceedings against Arab students at around 40 academic institutions, primarily over posts published on their private social media accounts.Adalah said that international supporters contributed nearly NIS 1 million to provide legal representation and assistance to dozens of students following the proceedings. According to the report, the Galilee Foundation provided support that enabled its writing and publication.According to the report, on October 8, 2023, less than 24 hours after the massacre carried out by Hamas and other armed groups in the Gaza border communities and the start of what the report calls the “war of extermination of the nation over the Gaza Strip,” the University of Haifa issued its first decision to suspend Arab students from their studies.Arab Israelis and Israeli left-wing activist students take part in a rally marking the Nakba anniversary at Tel Aviv University, May 13, 2026. (credit: JAMAL AWAD/FLASH90)Adalah claims the university’s then rector made the decision without prior proceedings or a hearing, based on posts students had uploaded to their private social media accounts in the hours before the decision. Within days, additional academic institutions followed.“By mid-October 2023, a broad pattern could already be identified: immediate suspensions of Palestinian students from their studies, the opening of disciplinary proceedings against them, and the classification of their posts as expressions of support for terrorism or identification with Hamas’s attack,” the report states.The organization said it received 132 complaints from male and female students at nearly 40 institutions, in what the report describes as “large-scale suppression of Palestinian students’ freedom of expression in Israel.” According to the data presented in the report, 76% of the students who faced disciplinary proceedings were young Palestinian women.Arab students suspended prior to hearing, Adalah claimsAdalah provided legal representation or advice to 100 of those who contacted it. In more than 80 cases, the report claims, temporary suspensions were imposed before a hearing took place. In 20 cases, students were expelled permanently or suspended for periods ranging from one to five years. In some appeals handled by the organization, the decisions were overturned or the punishments were significantly reduced.The report links the measures taken against students to political pressure from state officials, including the education minister, who called for student suspensions and expedited disciplinary procedures. According to Adalah, in several cases institutions also reported students to police, leading to arrests.The range of content that led, according to the organization, to complaints or proceedings was broad: criticism of government policy, the IDF, or the war in Gaza; references to the October 7 attack; sharing reports about the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip; Quranic verses and prayers; and symbols of Palestinian identity. The report claims that in some cases, merely liking a post, displaying a Palestinian flag or the word “Palestine” on a profile, sharing a news report, or praying for Gaza residents was sufficient to trigger action.At the center of the organization’s argument is the claim that the burden of proof was reversed: instead of the institution proving that a post constituted a disciplinary offense, students were required to prove that their statements did not constitute support for terrorism. According to Adalah, institutions expanded their authority to cover private posts unrelated to academic studies, almost exclusively in relation to Arab students. At the same time, the report claims, they avoided taking similar action against Jewish students who published racist or inciting content.The report’s conclusion follows from this argument: according to Adalah, Israeli academia has shifted from being an institution that regulates conduct related to studies into one that monitors private expression and determines which expressions of Palestinian identity, religion, solidarity, or political criticism are legitimate.The organization describes the track applied to Arab students as an emergency “administrative track,” involving expanded authority, reduced procedural protections, and the use of vague tests of loyalty and “enemy” status. In contrast, it claims that Jewish students have retained a “constitutional track,” in which limits on institutional authority and freedom of expression are more strongly protected. Adalah warned of a “chilling effect” that would lead to self-censorship and “harm the sense of security and belonging of Palestinian students on campuses.”Haifa University denies report of Arab student discrimination“The Adalah report presents a partial, biased, and highly inaccurate picture,” the University of Haifa said in response to the allegations against it. “The correct picture is this: the proceedings against students who were suspended following October 7 publications were conducted in accordance with disciplinary regulations, and the students were represented by attorneys.”The university added that “following the recommendation of the panel that heard the disciplinary proceedings, the parties agreed to pursue mediation before a retired judge, a former vice president of the Nazareth District Court, in which the students were also represented by attorneys. At the conclusion of the process, during which agreements were reached with the assistance of the mediator, two students were expelled from the university, five apologized and carried out community service at nonprofit organizations according to an agreed number of hours, and two students were acquitted.”The Education Ministry did not respond to the allegations and referred the inquiry to the Council for Higher Education (CHE). The CHE declined to comment on the report.Follow us on Google