The “Choosing Life” and Gvura Families of the Fallen Forums called for the immediate dismissal of Dr. Sebastian Ben-Daniel in a sharply worded letter sent to Ben-Gurion University of the Negev President Prof. Daniel Chamovitz and Rector Chaim Hames.
The letter, sent on behalf of bereaved families and terror victims and signed by several bereaved parents and reservists, said that “his [Ben-Daniel] continued employment is a spit in the face."
"The voices of the blood of our sons and daughters cry out from the ground," the letter went on. "And that lecturer calls our sons and daughters murderers, baby killers, and claims that this is how they were raised."
"Look us in the eye, and dismiss him immediately.”
The letter also criticized university leadership for condemning protests against Ben-Daniel without explicitly addressing his comments, saying the move “proves the depth of the moral abyss into which you [the university] have fallen.”
“Academic freedom does not mean teaching students while calling them baby killers behind their backs,” the letter continued. “Because of our sons, because of their sacrifice, you are able to study and teach in safety.”
The demand to dismiss Ben-Daniel came about a month after a heated confrontation on campus, when MK Almog Cohen (Otzma Yehudit) entered a class Ben-Daniel was teaching, accompanied by Im Tirtzu activists, forcing the lecture to end, and told Ben-Daniel that he would “make sure you [Ben-Daniel] don’t teach here anymore.”
Following the incident, BGU filed a police complaint against Cohen for disturbing public order, while Cohen's associates filed a complaint against Ben Daniel for his past statements.
“I said, and I meant that I do not intend to allow this disgraceful, anti-Israel lecturer, Sebastian Ben-Daniel, to continue teaching, and that is what I am working toward,” Cohen said, later doubling down on the incident.
“Anyone who incites [violence] against IDF soldiers, against the residents of Beersheba, and against Mizrahim will not teach students in the State of Israel.”
Cohen said that police must “hold him [Ben-Daniel] to account” and framed the case as a “test of whether they will tolerate racist, terror-inciting, antisemitic discourse.”
BGU suspends Ben-Daniel for a week
In early March, BGU announced that it had suspended Ben-Daniel indefinitely following a series of online statements claiming that IDF soldiers are “trained to kill.”
A week later, the university lifted the suspension after the lecturer apologized and committed to refraining from posting content that could offend or harm students in the future. However, in mid-April, Israeli right-wing watchdog group Im Tirtzu said that Ben-Daniel's classes had not taken place for two weeks.
Five hundred fifty faculty members at universities and colleges across Israel petitioned BGU, calling Ben-Daniel's suspension "a new low point."
"Those who are supposed to serve as defenders of freedom of expression are collaborating with forces that seek to harm it."
Peled Arbeli and Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.