Tel Aviv U Bans Hatikvah

YERUSHALAYIM
The Social Sciences Building at Tel Aviv University. (David Shay)

The Israeli national anthem, Hatikvah, is too controversial for Tel-Aviv University, which banned it from a graduation ceremony, Arutz Sheva reported on Monday.

Professor Leo Corry, the new Dean of the Humanities Faculty at TAU, ordered that the anthem be omitted “out of consideration for the feelings of Arab students” who feel excluded by a line in the anthem, ‘a Jewish soul yearns.’

The Im Tirtzu organization condemned the decision. CEO Matan Peleg said: “This decision is the height of servility and absurdity, but is unfortunately not surprising. This is a logical outcome in a university that allows inciting protests calling for violence on its grounds, and that fails to discipline a professor who cancels class out of solidarity with Hamas terrorists in Gaza.”

“The writing is on the wall and we cannot ignore it,” added Peleg.

It was not the first time that an Israeli university has seen fit to drop Hatikvah. In May 2017, Hebrew University was condemned by a number of politicians for doing the same.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked and others lined up to demand that the university play the anthem at its graduation ceremonies.

The university argued that there was no existing law which required it to play the anthem.

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