Academic Freedom: The Case of Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian
Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, is an internationally recognized scholar and the Global Chair in Law at Queen Mary University of London. She has also served as a professor at the Faculty of Law–Institute of Criminology and the School of Social Work and Public Welfare at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Starting in late 2023, Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian became the target of a political persecution campaign. Adalah and private attorney Alaa Mahajneh represented her throughout legal proceedings brought against her, measures taken in direct retaliation for her opposition to the war on Gaza, as well as her critical scholarship and her outspoken dissent against Israel’s oppressive policies toward Palestinians.
Her case exemplifies the criminalization of Palestinian voices in Israeli academia since October 2023 and how legal and institutional tools are weaponized to silence dissent.
Harassment and Public Incitement
Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian became a target of incitement after signing a petition titled “Childhood Researchers and Students Call for Immediate Ceasefire,” alongside over 1,000 fellow researchers, calling for an end to the war and labelling Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide.
On 29 October 2023, she received a letter from the Hebrew University administration, including the Dean of the Law School and the Rector, accusing her of conduct “not very far from crimes of incitement and sedition.” The letter expressed “shame” at having “a faculty member like” Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian and urged her “to consider leaving [her] position.” Before she had the opportunity to respond or even read the letter, it was leaked and widely circulated on social media and in the Israeli media. As a result, she was exposed to hate messages and threats from Israeli students, politicians, and state officials.
Her signature on the petition reflected not only her expertise as a critical criminologist but also a scholarly position widely shared by academics worldwide regarding Israel’s military assault on Gaza.
Suspension from the Hebrew University
On 12 March 2024, the Hebrew University suspended Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian, calling her activism harmful to Israel’s reputation. The suspension came in the wake of a dismissal campaign against her led by Im Tirtzu, a far-right organization that an Israeli court has previously deemed fascist.
In its suspension letter, the university accused her of acting in a “disgraceful, anti-Zionist, and inciting manner.” It claimed that her actions, particularly in signing the petition, had damaged Israel’s reputation “both locally and internationally,” describing the university as a “proud Israeli, public and Zionist institution.”
Her suspension occurred during a broader wave of repression. Since October 2024, Adalah has represented over 94 Palestinian students at 33 Israeli universities who faced disciplinary actions and even criminal charges for their political expressions related to the war.
To read Adalah’s briefing paper “Crackdown on Freedom of Speech of Palestinian Citizens of Israel from 23 October 2023,” click here.
On 13 March, Adalah sent a letter demanding the reinstatement of Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian, arguing that her suspension was discriminatory and politically motivated. The university, Adalah noted, had violated its own regulations by failing to convene a hearing or allow Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian to respond to the allegations.
Adalah also highlighted the selective nature of the university’s actions, noting that other faculty members who openly supported Israel’s military operations in Gaza did not face disciplinary action. This double standard suggests that the suspension was motivated by “ideological positions that seek to align with the Jewish-Zionist consensus expressed in this war” and was intended to silence dissenting voices, which echoes widespread international criticism. Adalah emphasized that such measures undermine academic freedom and reinforce a broader pattern of political repression and silence around critical scholarship.
To read Adalah’s letter from 13 March 2024 [Hebrew], click here.
To read an English translation of the letter, click here.
Amid widespread protests and criticism from Palestinian and non-Palestinian academics and students, university representatives met with Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian on 27 March. During the meeting, she was compelled to restate her position as a critical feminist scholar and to clarify that she did not deny that sexual assaults and rapes were committed on 7 October. It was only after this clarification that Hebrew University agreed to reinstate her on 28 March 2024.
The Raid and Arrest
On March 15, 2024, Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian was stopped at the airport and questioned about the same statements she made during an episode of the Makdisi Street podcast on March 8, 2024, titled “There is so much love in Palestine.” In that episode, she discussed her personal experiences of working and living under Israeli oppression, her scholarship, the genocide in Gaza, the abuse of Palestinian bodies by Israeli authorities, and settler violence. Although the Israeli police questioned her about her statements, she was not detained.
On April 18, 2024, Israeli police arrested Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian at her home in the Old City of Jerusalem, reportedly on charges of incitement to terrorism, violence, and racism. During the raid, they confiscated her phone, computer, documents, and books, including works by the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. Her wrists and ankles were cuffed, and she was taken to the Russian Compound detention center near the Jerusalem Municipality. There, she was strip-searched by a policewoman who cursed her, accused her of being a member of Hamas, and told her to “burn” and “die.” Interrogators questioned her not only about her statements on the podcast but also about her published academic articles. Afterward, she was placed in a cold cell with a wet, foul-smelling blanket.
On April 19, Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian appeared before the magistrate’s court, where police requested a seven-day extension of her detention, alleging she engaged in “serious incitement against the State of Israel” by denouncing Zionism and claiming that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The accusations were based on statements made during the March 8 podcast. The police stated her words were “highly dangerous due to her international connections, her English-language publications, and their availability on multiple platforms.” The police also cited posters found in her home “portraying [Israeli] soldiers as an occupying army.”
The defense team argued that she was effectively being investigated for her academic works, many of which have been published in respected, peer-reviewed journals worldwide and studied at numerous universities, including the Hebrew University, for years. They emphasized that her statements are all protected by the right to freedom of expression, and that police failed to demonstrate that any had crossed the criminal threshold for incitement.
In its decision, the magistrate’s court noted that the police search had yielded “no substantial evidence to support the severity of the accusations or to indicate [her] involvement in further offenses.” The court ordered her release, conditional on her agreement to undergo further police interrogation and pay a financial bond.
The police appealed the ruling to the Jerusalem District Court, reiterating the same claims they had made before the lower court. The District Court upheld the Magistrate Court’s decision, dismissing the appeal and finding no basis for the claim that Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian posed a threat requiring her continued detention.
To read an unofficial English translation of the protocol of the hearing, click here.
To read the Jerusalem District Court’s decision [Hebrew], click here.
What Came After
Following her release, Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian was called in for three more police interrogations on April 25, April 28, and May 2, 2024. The content of these lengthy interrogations exceeded the scope of questioning authorized by the State Attorney’s Office.
For example, police interrogators demanded that she explain why she referred to East Jerusalem as an occupied city, pressed her to define the term settler-colonialism, questioned the sources she relied on when citing the number of children killed in Gaza during the war, and asked whether she still believed Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.
Her legal team condemned this questioning as a clear abuse of authority. On April 24, 2024, they sent a letter to the State Attorney’s Office requesting urgent intervention to stop further summons or to instruct police not to question her on matters outside the approved scope. The legal team also argued that the State Attorney’s authorization itself was inherently illegal because it violated the rights to freedom of expression and academic freedom and represented political persecution and harassment in response to lawful and legitimate speech.
To read the letter from 24 April 2024 [Hebrew], click here.
On April 25, 2024, Adalah sent a letter to police authorities requesting the return of her seized property, including her cellphone, smartwatch, and laptop. After the police refused to return the items, Adalah filed a petition with the Magistrate’s Court on May 12, 2024. The court, however, rejected the petition, citing that the investigation was still ongoing, even though the police had already interrogated Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian on all statements approved for questioning by the State Attorney. Her property was finally returned a week later, and the case was closed.
To read Adalah’s letter from 25 April 2024 [Hebrew], click here.
To read the petition to the court from 12 May 2024 [Hebrew], click here.
To read the protocol of the magistrate’s court hearing [Hebrew], click here.
Professor Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s arrest and interrogation serve as a high-profile example of Israel’s increasing repression against Palestinian citizens for alleged speech offenses amid the war on Gaza. Far from being an isolated incident, it fits into a broader pattern that demands Palestinians abandon their history and collective identity in exchange for their basic rights. By targeting Shalhoub-Kevorkian, the authorities not only violated her academic freedom but also sent a chilling message to every scholar, student, and staff member in Israeli academic institutions: dissent from the official narrative on the genocide and war on Gaza will be punished, and critical thinking will be silenced.
Relevant podcasts:
Dr. Hassan Jabareen on the Arrest of Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, The Adalah Podcast, 24 April 2024.
Related press releases:
Jerusalem District Court orders release of Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, 19 April 2024.
Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian arrested: Jerusalem Magistrates' Court to hear state's request for the extension of her detention tomorrow, 19 April 2024.
Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian arrested: Jerusalem Magistrates' Court to hear state's request for the extension of her detention tomorrow, 18 April 2024.
Hebrew University Suspended Palestinian Professor for Labeling Israeli Actions in Gaza as Genocide, 9 April 2024.
