This is another wild story from Israel. The alleged land of milk and honey resembles in many respects the American wild west of the nineteenth-century that unfortunately confirms the existence of a segment of the society that reflects all the darkness and fragmentation that a white patriarchal, militaristic and racist strain of thought can produce. From Steven Plaut:
Yesterday the Hebrew University decided to fire Prof. Eyal Ben Ari….
---However, the university said that the reason the tribunal's finding did not discuss charges of sexual harassment is that the acts were committed before the law against sexual harassment was passed. --- Read More:http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/professor-fired-for-improper-relations-with-three-students-1.376264
We have been reporting about the radical anti-Israel leftist sociologist Ben Ari for several years. Ben Ari, who markets himself as a feminist sociologist and is listed by the university as part of Women’s Studies, was the main supervisor of that now notorious thesis of the Master’s Student Tal Nitzan which purported to “prove” that the reason that Israeli soldiers never rape Arab women is because the Jews are so racist. The thesis was not only accepted by the university but was awarded a prize, and the President and the Rector of the university defended the content of the thesis (and not just the “academic freedom” to write such garbage)….
---A Jerusalem resident Gil Dvash, 45, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of sexually harassing and sodomizing 10 minors over the past few years, after offering them money at a local synagogue. The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court on Thursday extended the suspect's remand, with Judge Fineberg ruling that "there is reasonable ground to believe that he committed the acts ascribed to him." According to the suspicions, the man arrived at a synagogue in the Bait Vagan neighborhood, where the minors were praying, offered them money and carried out his scheme. In his investigation, the suspect admitted that he had committed the acts in many incidents. --- Read More:http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3935101,00.html
…Soon after that “thesis” turned the Hebrew University in to an international laughingstock, Ben Ari himself was arrested and investigated under suspicion of raping several of his graduate students. The students filed complaints with the police and the university. They also accused Ben Ari of using extortion to get sex from them and of lowering their grades or denying them funding if they refused to “put out.” At first the university circled its wagons around Ben Ari. The Attorney General was reluctant to indict him, probably because the job of the leftist Attorney General is to serve as a shield for leftists and protect them from indictment.
Eventually, after a new President and Rector took over, the university itself charged Ben Ari before its own ethics disciplinary committee. He was convicted of “conducting improper relations” and behavior not befitting a faculty member, meaning molesting students. He was suspended from duties with no salary for two years. The university then appealed that decision, demanding stronger punishment. Yesterday the same disciplinary committee decided to fire Ben Ari altogether and the university has announced it intends to do so. Read More:http://stevenplaut.blogspot.com/
ADDENDUM:
The Hebrew University’s entire Committee on Gender Issues resigned last week to protest institutional discrimination, evident in the fact that annually half of PhD graduates are women, yet they reportedly account for only 11% of recent senior faculty appointments. The persistent buzz on campus intensifies the suspicion that where there is so much smoke, there must be at least some fire. The situation in Israel’s halls of academe isn’t unlike what was whispered for decades in the IDF about the pressure for sexual favors imposed by officers on young women recruits. Over time a norm of exploitation and degradation was uncovered. Stricter enforcement of rules has by no means rooted out all abuse of authority, but it has reduced it considerably and empowered women soldiers to stand up for their rights and complain. Read More:http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Editorials/Article.aspx?id=111409
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But by far the best part of the story is the report in Haaretz that Prof. Ben-Ari had purchased a vibrator with university research funds to use on his hapless students. He submitted the bill for the vibrator to the Shaine Center for reimbursement. Does the Shaine family know how the money they donated to the Hebrew University is being used? Read More:http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Blogs/Message.aspx/2958#.TjzHuYJJLfI
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