UPDATE: Prof. Merhav, thinking better of the worst of his racist Facebook screeds, has scrubbed his page of every post linked below. One wonders, if he believes in free speech as strongly as he claims here, why he would feel the need to do that. At any rate, I display a screenshot of his worst offense below & the rest of my references are translations. Since he’s removed these posts you’ll just have to trust what I translated from his originals.
Neri Merhav is a professor of electrical engineering at Israel’s prestigious Technion. He holds the Irving Shepard Academic chair there. The Technion is one of the world’s leading engineering schools and its graduates populate Israel’s advanced intelligence agencies, including IDF Unit 8200.
He’s consulted for Hewlett Packard Labs in Israel and serves in senior roles on various committees and publications in the field of information theory. But little of this has brought me to dedicating a blog post to Prof. Merhav. What did is his Facebook page, which is full of rants against Palestinians of all varieties. Among other things, he’s advocated ‘soft’ ethnic cleansing and supported building of Israeli settlements in occupied Jerusalem.
In one post he addressed Palestinian MK Ahmed Tibi’s jibe directed at Israeli Jews, in which the latter said no Israeli Palestinian would be emigrating on account of the cheaper prices in Berlin. This was the so called “Milky” controversy. Merhav’s riposte:
It’s too bad that you [Israeli Palestinians] don’t leave on account of Milky. Or perhaps there might be something else that would persuade you to leave.
That vague “something else” might be as benign as a financial incentive or as malign as a pogrom or forced expulsion. He leaves it to the reader to fill in the blank.
He’s called Barack Obama a Muslim. He said about Obama’s “confession” that he’d underestimated ISIS–that he needs a priest urgently since he was on a roll making so many confessions. Then Merhav added snarkily:
On second thought, a priest wouldn’t be appropriate–since he’s actually a Muslim.
He attacked an Israeli youth leader who asked a group of Israeli children traveling to Auschwitz to consider whether there is a difference between a Nazi soldier not refusing an [illegal] order and an Israeli soldier not refusing an [illegal] order. Merhav said of the youth counselor:
“With self-hating Jews and Israel haters like these, we don’t even need anti-Semitism.”
In another Facebook post, he derides Mahmoud Abbas’ UN speech, in which the latter accuses Israel of genocide during Operation Protective Edge. This has to be the most absurd form of genocide in history, Merhav exclaims, because the alleged murderers provided field hospitals and humanitarian aid for the victims. Apparently, Merhav hadn’t heard of the pleasant, but fake town the Nazis built around the death camp at Theresienstadt to conceal the ugly things going on behind it. Israel’s offer of assistance to Gazans is about as fake as a three-dollar bill.
Merhav called Israeli territorial concessions proposed during various peace talks “irresponsible” and a form of “national suicide.” Of former Pres. Jimmy Carter, who called for the U.S. to recognize Hamas, he writes:
Once an anti-Semite, always an anti-Semite.
The only good Muslim for Merhav may not be a dead one, as Gen. Sheridan said of the Indians, but he definitely must be a Zionist. And Merhav has found at least two (count ’em) such Muslims and fetes ’em on his Facebook page.
He rejected Israel’s ceasefire with Hamas and the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, because it was allegedly conducted “under fire” and would give the enemy the idea it could compel the IDF to retreat through resistance.
Merhav “likes” Im Tirzu on his Facebook page and highlights one of their articles calling the Nakba claim of Palestinians to refugee status, “a lie.” I find it odd that an Israeli professor would support an organization whose primary mission is to destroy academic freedom on Israeli campuses in the name of nationalist ideology. Merhav would no doubt not have trouble limiting the freedom of “anti-Zionist” faculty, as long as it didn’t impinge on his ability to propound his racist views where and when he wished.
Can you imagine the poor Palestinian Technion student (the very few there are) who makes the mistake of walking into one of his courses? What hope does the poor slob have in the face of such abject, histrionic Arabophobia? And if you’re among the few leftists students enrolled at Technion, keep your mouth shut around Merhav otherwise he might drum you out of the place. Invariably, people like Merhav will have one “Arab” who they’ve befriended or who’s taken a class with them. This will prove that they are indeed decent human beings, like the American white liberal who said: “Some of my best friends are Negroes.” But even if the professor can point to one such student, what would it say about such a Palestinian willing to take a course with a faculty member advocating the banishment of his people from Israel?
In another odd, but memorable Facebook post, he criticizes assisted-suicide for the terminally-ill saying:
I would decree a death sentence on anyone unjustifiably seeking to commit suicide.
Finally, let me add that I believe that professors are entitled to their opinions, no matter how odious they might be. But to publicly express views containing such a high level of political and religious hate and extremism can’t help reflect on the reputation of the institution that employs him. It’s one thing if he taught at Bar Ilan where such faculty racism is de rigeur. But the Technion isn’t especially known as a bastion of settlerism and Islamophobia. One has to wonder what some of its more moderate American Jewish donors would think of such extremism flaunted in such public settings.
Merhav is thought by some to be a bright young star in his academic field. He probably brings in lots of grant funding and will be untouchable. I doubt any of the campus leadership will even bring the subject of this post up to him. That will also be a telling statement on the level of racism tolerated in Israeli academe. To compare this sort of racism: imagine a U.S. professor advocating the forced expulsion of African-Americans from this country. While no one would deny his academic freedom to make such a ludicrous statement, his employer would rush to dissociate itself from his views and be rid of him at the first opportunity.
I’m going to try to make it hard for Technion to avoid the subject. I’d love it if you’d promote this post in the Technion Twitter and Facebook accounts/pages. An e mail message sent to the president and dean of the Technion remains unanswered.
H/t Nabil Asbi.
When an obvious racist such as Merhav refers to people he believes to be critical of his position (such as Carter) as “anti-semites” he invites the conflation of “anti- semitism” and “anti-racism”. That doesn’t seem to be a winning strategy. As the French public intellectual Alain Finkielkraut remarked despondently about this conflation:
“It is an anti-Semitism one cannot accuse by referring to the past because it has nothing to do with the past. It is not an anti-Semitism of a racial type, against which people generally mobilise. It is an anti-racist anti-Semitism.”
And also,
“We are not dealing here with racial hatred against which Jews could protest by dragging their detractors before tribunals. How can one combat anti-racist hatred? That is very difficult.” “
I have always believed that engineers such as Merhav are liable to be a bit thick in the head, sometimes to the point of criminality, as far as political matters are concerned. It is a prejudice that perhaps finds its origin in the fact that the leader of the Dutch National Socialists, Anton Mussert,(executed in post war Holland in 1946), was an engineer. But there is some theoretical justification for my prejudice. One suspects that the engineer’s habit of dealing with things as manipulable objects can too easily be extended to human beings.
But in Israel criminal ideas about expulsion are unfortunately not limited to this kind of professional. One also finds these among intellectuals one would have believed to be guardians of humanistic values, such as historians. Benny Morris’s ideas form a case in point. Just pro memory here is part of his notorious interview with Ari Shavit, some ten years ago:
Shavit:” I’m not sure I understand. Are you saying that Ben-Gurion erred in expelling too few Arabs?”
Morris: ”If he was already engaged in expulsion, maybe he should have done a complete job. I know that this stuns the Arabs and the liberals and the politically correct types. But my feeling is that this place would be quieter and know less suffering if the matter had been resolved once and for all. If Ben-Gurion had carried out a large expulsion and cleansed the whole country – the whole Land of Israel, as far as the Jordan River. It may yet turn out that this was his fatal mistake. If he had carried out a full expulsion – rather than a partial one – he would have stabilized the State of Israel for generations.”
Shavit: “I find it hard to believe what I am hearing.”
Moriis: ”If the end of the story turns out to be a gloomy one for the Jews, it will be because Ben-Gurion did not complete the transfer in 1948. Because he left a large and volatile demographic reserve in the West Bank and Gaza and within Israel itself.”
Shavit: “In his place, would you have expelled them all? All the Arabs in the country?”
Morris: ”But I am not a statesman. I do not put myself in his place. But as an historian, I assert that a mistake was made here. Yes. The non-completion of the transfer was a mistake.”
Isn’t this the guy who is always complaining that Arabs are out to kill all Jews? I don’t suppose he can hear himself speak. On second thoughts, he knows exactly what he is saying because of his carefully sanitized speech; He calls for “completion of transfer” not ethnic cleansing and not “wiping out the Arabs”.
Perhaps a remarkable aspect of Mussert’s leadership was that Jews were welcome in his NSB until the Germans invaded the Netherlands.
If you are correct then experimental scientists who “manipulate things” should also be prone to manipulate people. For that there is little evidence. In fact, some of the most rabid Jew haters among scientists were theoreticians.
I think he would compare illegal mexicans to palestinians as most far right wing people are convinced that the palestinians are all syrian saudi or jordanian who moved to Israel in the late 19th century as laborers to build jewish settlements. They would point out people like Arafat who was half Egyptian as proof of this. Tbh i have never met an israeli who was shy about racism… they dont seem to comprehend how obsurd they sound to regular people. I remember last time i was in israel and my friend ori told me that israel had an infestation problem and if they just got ridof the rats israel would be a nice place. I didn’t want to offend him so i did an uncomfortable laugh and quickly changed the subject. Its almost like a nation that had to defend its existence daily has lost the humanity that was once present like in the 60’s when my dad was in high school in jafa. The president is 100% about racism in Israel
And they complain when Isrtaelis are compared to Nazis who equated Jews with cockroaches, vermin and TB Bacillii.
I disagree with the notion that Israel “had to defend its existence daily”, it is a nation that has successfully projected itself as being in an existential danger all the time. Such an image is essential for Diaspora Jews to comtinue to blindly support it and to have its own Jews love the country and blindly suupport it…or Israel is destroyed. One of the most powerful nations on Earth HAS TO live in constant vigilance and fear in order to justify its genocide of the Palestinians.
The US does the same thing where it (total) Muslim population of about 4 million or so, is projected as being prepared to take over the country and kill all the “infidels” and rape all the women. Fortunately, this image has not yet been embraced by Congress or the Administration as in Israel…but wait! I understand that Republicans have taken over the Senate. I suppose “Sieg Heil!” is in order.
And they complain when Isrtaelis are compared to Nazis who equated Jews with cockroaches, vermin and TB Bacillii.
I disagree with the notion that Israel “had to defend its existence daily”, it is a nation that has successfully projected itself as being in an existential danger all the time. Such an image is essential for Diaspora Jews to comtinue to blindly support it and to have its own Jews love the country and blindly suupport it…or Israel is destroyed. One of the most powerful nations on Earth HAS TO live in constant vigilance and fear in order to justify its genocide of the Palestinians.
The US does the same thing where its (total) Muslim population of about 4 million or so, is projected as being prepared to take over the country and kill all the “infidels” and rape all the women. Fortunately, this image has not yet been embraced by Congress or the Administration as in Israel…but wait! I understand that Republicans have taken over the Senate. I suppose “Sieg Heil!” is in order.
Well Technion may not be especially known as a bastion of settlerism and Islamophobia, but as you’ve reported in the past, Israel as a whole is continuing to lurch in that direction.
Does anything more need to be said about the intellectual capacity of Neri Merhav than his own eloquent statement:
“I would decree a death sentence on anyone unjustifiably seeking to commit suicide.”
Murder is apparently not so abhorrent to the brilliant Merhav.
The professor’s opinions are perfectly legitimate. It’s something called freedom of speech. I don’t see any “islamophobia” or “arabiphobia” here.
BTW the actual percentage of Arab students in the technion seems to be around 20%. Just saying.
http://www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=1000906541
@ eli:
Forgive him Lord for he is blind and will not see! But undoubtedly you “see” anti-Semitism among Palestinians. Just don’t manage to “see” any Islamophobia among Israeli racists. You know what that makes you? And Israeli racist. Mazel tov & welcome to the club!
Eli,
I’m rather surprised at your response. Allow me to present a section of the article for discussion:
“He attacked an Israeli youth leader who asked a group of Israeli children traveling to Auschwitz to consider whether there is a difference between a Nazi soldier not refusing an [illegal] order and an Israeli soldier not refusing an [illegal] order. Merhav said of the youth counselor:
‘With self-hating Jews and Israel haters like these, we don’t even need anti-Semitism.'”
Merhav’s virulent response to a teacher asking a student a question seems a clear indicator that his views are reactive and not rational. How can a neutral question be an indicator of any position? In fact, the teacher was asking if there were a difference between the actions of the soldiers of two different countries. The potential for the answer to have been based on racial bias certainly exists, however the question was neutral and was actually a question regarding whether there is validity of the claim that a soldier acted on illegal order from a superior.
Merhav’s response seems more racially biased than the neutral question posed to students by a teacher. Isn’t it the teacher’s responsibility to engage the students in just such analysis?
Mari,
In a country deeply scarred by the shoah in which tens of thousands of nazi survivors are still alive, comparing IDF soldiers to Nazis, even innocuously, shows extreme lack of tact and sensitivity.
If comparisons must be made you can compare Israeli soldiers facing illegal orders to the American soldiers in my lai, to the Egyptian soldiers ordered to use mustard gas in Yemen, to Iraqi soldiers chemically attacking civilian Kurds, to the behavior of Netherlands army in Srebrenica etc.
The IDF-nazi comparison is a crude troupe of anti-Semitic discourse deliberately used to cause mental anguish.
Whether you agree with him or not there is nothing in merhaves response that is racial or non-rational.
eli
Eli,
While standing at Auschwitz, the issue of the Nazi defense of following illegal orders would be the logical topic for comparison to the actions of the soldiers of one’s own country. It was a logical reference and one that should evoke serious consideration of that ethical dilemma in the students.
The teacher did not compare the IDF to the Nazis rather invited the students to contrast the ethical position of the IDF and the Nazis. Your response seems almost defensive. It seems almost as if you fear the that the students’ response might result in finding similarities rather than dissimilarities. Is that possibly the effect of oversensitivity on your part?
Ann,
As I have explained, on the topic of following immoral military orders there are plenty of examples that one can use without resorting to the Nazis. Obviously you are not aware to the enormous sensitivity of this topic in Israel. That’s OK as long as you respect the cultural sensitivity of other people.
Considering the enormous emotional baggage associated with it, using Nazis as a point of comparison to IDF soldiers is probably the worst possible move from a purely pedagogical perspective. It clouds the judgment and precludes a clearheaded discussion of the issues. That’s way it is so popular in anti-Semitic discourse.
Personally, I think the comparison is ridiculous but the purpose of this post is not to debate the pro and cones of the IDF-nazi comparison, but to point out that there is nothing racist or illogical in merhaves criticism. In fact his position seems to be quit reasonable.
Hopefully those survivors of Nazi horror and their families will find the courage to acknowledge the horrible things being done to Palestinians by the Israeli state and speak out about it. We are told often enough that we should learn the lessons of the shoah and not let it happen ever again.
Unfortunately there are those who say that the racism, massacres, oppression and ethnic cleansing committed against Palestinians is not the same thing as the shoah and therefore it’s OK to be silent about it.
I think where the comparison with Nazis is warranted, is also the crucial lesson we draw from the shoah. That lesson is to reject the campaign in Israel to cast the Palestinians people as “Untermensch”.