Indivisible
The Israeli Academy after October 7th
In March 2024, with the war raging and an epidemic of boycotts of Israelis spreading, 25 Yale professors traveled to Israel.
“[I]t was very difficult to restart life and go back to research when our students are still fighting and defending Israel.
“I feel very betrayed by the feminist movement … when women were brutally raped and tortured and kidnapped, the feminist movement turned on us.”
People are unwilling to write letters of recommendation for our faculty members. A professor biology at Penn, wrote, “I really appreciate the work of Dr. ---. I think [his work is] groundbreaking. But because of the activities of your government, I refuse to write a letter recommendation.” We're seeing this more and more.
“I belong to the Arab Druze community which is a small minority in Israel. I never felt like a second-class citizen in Israel.”
“There's no apartheid here. This is where we listen to each other. There is understanding, there's a hope for a future.”
“I’m an Arab from Israel. Our mission is to help students, faculty and staff from different backgrounds present their narrative(s). [Some of them] are the people who are leading critics of the bad things in Israel.”
What you think you know about Israel and Israeli universities might be all wrong. It’s important to hear from Israelis. It’s important to get the facts. Let this short film be the beginning of your investigation.
A documentary featuring Jewish, Arab, Christian, Muslim, and Druze academics.
After October 7, the single deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, 25 academics from Yale University traveled to Israel to bear witness to a second, less visible attack. The attack on Israeli academics and institutions.
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Testimonials
"Barely 18 minutes long, this well edited short film documents the combined sorrow and resilience of Arab, Druze, and Jewish students and faculty in Israel as they lived through the effects of 10/7/23. With so many horrific stories to learn about, it is easy to miss the fact that Israeli higher education lost many members of its community that day. Appallingly, efforts to rekindle academic boycotts of Israeli universities were renewed before the academic community could finish burying its dead. If you care about justice and academic freedom, watch Indivisible."
"What a terrific and essential short film, about the academy both here and in Israel post October 7. Dropping truth bombs, refuting anti-Israel libels disseminated by campus anti-Israelists, revealing the resilience of Israeli academics, the film packs more into its 18 minutes than one would think possible — but also invites further discussion. Despite the bleakness of the Hamas massacre and wide-scale academic affirmation of it, the film also presents a hopeful vision — of peace, of coexistence — that could only be realized in Israel."
"Thanks to this film, we get to see what is really going on. Science requires collaboration, and that collaboration is exactly what Israelis have and work toward in their own institutions. Arabs, Jews, Christians, Muslims and Druze work together in Israel's hospitals. Academic boycotts thwart the goals of science; they harm individual professors but also those who stand to benefit from lifesaving technologies developed in Israel. This short film is an eye-opener. As a Yale grad, I am proud of the academics who took the trip and made this film possible."
"I was incredibly moved watching this video of the Yale faculty mission to Israel — to see how deeply the visit affected them and how much it meant to their Israeli colleagues. Having led a similar Penn faculty mission just weeks earlier, I know firsthand how transformative it is to show up for our colleagues — and how urgently more universities need to do the same."
"The authentic voices and ideas expressed in Indivisible are much needed in any discussion of the unfortunate predicament facing Israel's vibrant academic communities. When outside criticism of a country's political leadership devolves into hostile boycotts of its intellectual and scientific output, it adversely affects the lives of that country's citizens and those beyond. This clear-thinking film exemplifies the profound potential documentaries have in advancing important conversations."
"The film showcases one of the most effective approaches to countering anti-Israel sentiment on campuses — exposure to the reality of Israel. The trip documented in the film highlights the extraordinary opportunities for U.S. and Israeli scholars to collaborate, to further scientific breakthroughs, and to promote mutual understanding."
"I was incredibly impressed by the manner in which Israel has historically integrated Palestinian Israelis into the health care system at every level for both patients and providers."
"I am proud to collaborate with Israelis who are experts in my field, and I have done so my entire 20+-year career. I have seen direct messages documenting that Israelis have had an increasingly hard time getting publications, grants, and external promotion reviews – simply because they are Israeli. This is wrong. Indivisible confirms these observations and illustrates their real, personal impact."
"In this day and age when we hear so much negativity about academia, Indivisible presents a tender and hopeful portrait of coexistence through academic cooperation."
