Half of faculty at Israeli universities signed petitions accusing IDF of Gaza war crimes – study

A study by The Olam, published August 17, found that 50.4% (1,434 of 2,844) of faculty members across eight leading Israeli universities signed at least one petition labeling Israel's Gaza campaign as a "war crime." The audit, covering institutions like the Technion and Hebrew University, cross-referenced public petition rosters from 2024-2026 with faculty directories. The vast majority of signatures (96.9%) were on a single May 2025 Black Flag initiative document titled “An Urgent Call to the Heads of Academia in Israel,” which described the campaign as “a horrifying litany of war crimes and even crimes against humanity.”

• Participation varied by institution, with the Technion at 77% and Bar-Ilan at 30%.
• Humanities faculty were significantly more likely to sign than STEM colleagues (e.g., Middle Eastern studies at 82% vs. engineering at 15%).
• The Olam noted methodological limitations, including that petition-signing doesn't fully capture political ideology.
• A comparison to a previous study on American Jewish Studies faculty showed similar rates of public political petitioning targeting Israel in both elite American and flagship Israeli universities.

Ronn Torossian, publisher of The Olam, stated, “These are not fringe figures - these are core faculties at Israel's flagship research universities.” He urged donors and parents to question university leadership about the prevalence of these viewpoints.