The Hebrew University as an institution was part and parcel of the Zionist project in Palestine. It is absurd that a university president would intervene to argue about the fine points of a petition one faculty member had signed. If anything, that points to the deep insecurity in Israel about its own legitimacy. Acknowledging the validity of any of the truths that Palestinians experience (such as having Palestine occupied for 75 years), implies in their mind a negation of the Zionist state. Israel claims to be a "democracy" with "free" academic institutions, but Zionism itself is not up for debate or investigation. The emperor knows he has no clothes, but no one is allowed to say that.