Government ‘excommunication’ of academia excoriated at Jerusalem protest march

Hundreds of protesters calling for an immediate hostage deal and elections to replace the government have gathered outside the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, preparing for their weekly march to Netanyahu’s official residence.

Prominent academics and public figures affiliated with the Jerusalem protest group Save our Shared Home deliver speeches against the government.

Criticizing Education Minister Yoav Kisch’s decision to drastically cut down this year’s Israel Prize ceremony, Israeli academic Haim Weiss accuses the politician of “alienating” academia and “harming its power and status within Israel and throughout the world,” noting the unfriendly atmosphere many Israelis at universities face due to academics championing the Palestinian cause abroad.

“While Israeli academia is working tirelessly to preserve its international status and is dealing with burgeoning ostracisms and boycotts, the education minister, the man charged with nurturing it, comes and personally excommunicates it,” he says.

Relatives of the hostages are set to speak to the crowd once the march ends at Paris Square, next to the Prime Minister’s Residence.