JERUSALEM: Israel’s national broadcast authority has rejected radio ads criticizing the government for stranding Palestinian university students in the Gaza Strip, a broadcasting official said Wednesday, calling them too controversial.
Submitted by a group working for freedom of movement for Palestinians, the ads target Israeli sanctions that have trapped hundreds of Gaza students who hoped to study abroad. The group, Gisha, is appealing the decision.
The ads feature two prominent Israeli authors and a former Cabinet minister calling on government to let the students out.
In one, author Yonatan Geffen recounts how as a young man he was given a scholarship to study English literature in Cambridge, England.
“The right to study crosses borders and conflict. We all have the right to study, he says in the Israel imposed the blockade after the Hamas seized power in Gaza, and tightened the sanctions because of ongoing rocket fire at Israeli towns. Egypt has also sealed its crossing with the territory.
Israel and Hamas are currently observing a truce. Israel has increased the trickle of goods entering the territory and has allowed some Palestinians in for medical treatment. But most Gazans are still not free to leave.
“The spot was not approved for broadcast in the format the advertiser requested because it contains a controversial political message, Linda Bar, a spokeswoman for the Israel Broadcasting Authority, said in a statement.
She cited regulations according to which “commercials with controversial political messages cannot go on the air. The step is not unusual.
The Israel Broadcasting Authority, a government-appointed but independent body, supervises radio broadcasting in Israel. The service offers several national radio channels in Hebrew, one that broadcasts in Arabic and another in foreign languages for immigrants. Also, regional stations broadcast under the umbrella of the authority. Most of the stations broadcast commercials.
The group that submitted the ads, Gisha, is fighting the decision in an appeals panel. The ad campaign, the appeal claims, “articulates uncontroversial norms, acknowledging the supreme importance of higher education as well as the duty of the state of Israel to facilitate the realization of aspirations for those seeking to pursue education.
Around 1,000 students left Gaza to study abroad every year before the blockade was imposed, according to Sari Bashi, Gisha’s director. Today, she said, Israel allows out only several dozen who have scholarships at Western universities. The majority of the students study in Asia and the Middle East, she said, and are not allowed to leave.
Some of the students began their studies abroad and were back in Gaza visiting their families in the summer of 2007, when Hamas came to power and the territory was sealed off.
“There’s also a chilling effect, because the longer students are prevented from leaving, the fewer apply, Bashi said.
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said Israel is allowing out only students studying in the West because it believes that “exposing Palestinians to a pluralistic and democratic academic environment can only have a positive impact upon the students, who could help bring such values back to Palestinian society.
“If someone is studying chemistry at the University of Tehran or advanced religious texts at an extremist madrassah in south Asia, these are not the kind of things we want to facilitate, he said.
The plight of Gaza’s university students made headlines in May, after US officials announced they had revoked the prestigious Fulbright scholarships of seven Gazans because of the Israeli travel ban. The scholarships were eventually restored, but the US ended up denying visas to three of the students on security grounds.
