Hebrew U criminology lecturer suspended after arrest on suspicion of beating Palestinian
Dr. Michael Wolfowicz is suspected, along with eight others, of attacking, kidnapping and beating a West Bank Palestinian man in August
Gavriel Fiske is a reporter at The Times of Israel
A Hebrew University criminology lecturer, Dr. Michael Wolfowicz, has been suspended by the university after being arrested on suspicion of participating, along with eight others, in the kidnapping and beating of a West Bank Palestinian man in August, the university said Sunday.
Wolfowicz was suspended from his position until the end of the semester, in February, at which time a further hearing is to be held by the university on the issue, according to a letter sent to the university community.
The suspension was “a joint decision” made after “having a conversation with Dr. Wolfowitz,” the statement said.
“The university is committed to maintaining a teaching and research environment that is safe, respectful and free from any conduct that is inconsistent with our community values… As long as Dr. Wolfowicz is not cleared of the suspicions against him, he will not be able to teach at the Hebrew University,” the statement said.
Last week, the Department for Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) revealed what appears to be an incident in which a Palestinian man was violently assaulted and abducted by a group of four police officers, four IDF soldiers, and one Israeli civilian in August.
According to details released by DIPI, the suspects attacked a Palestinian man in the area of Nahal Auja in the central West Bank, north of the Kochav Hashahar settlement. They then took him to a nearby location and a short while later he was found and taken for medical treatment for his injuries.
The DIPI conducted a secret investigation together with the military police and arrested the nine suspects last week.
In his bio, Wolfowicz is described as a senior lecturer at the Hebrew University’s Institute of Criminology who specializes in “traditional criminological applications to the study of radicalization and terrorism, with a specific focus on risk and protective factors, and internet-related factors.”
According to Hebrew media reports Sunday, Wolfowicz, who is now under house arrest, regularly volunteers for the Border Police and was allegedly part of the “second circle” of participants in the beating incident.
Another suspect in the case is Saar Ofir, a resident of the Elkana settlement in the central West Bank who was arrested in July on suspicion of executing a Hamas terrorist captured by IDF forces in Gaza.
Last week, after his name was made public, hundreds of Hebrew University students signed an open letter calling for Wolfowicz to be suspended, saying, “There is no place for violent and racist lecturers on campus.”
In August, controversial Hebrew University professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, who was briefly arrested in April on suspicion of incitement related to her comments on the Israel-Hamas war and has a long history of provocative anti-Zionist public statements, announced her retirement.
Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.
