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Filmmaker Nizar Hassan. (Adi Mazan)
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Last update - 09:06 04/12/2007
Colleagues back lecturer who threw soldier out of classroom
By Tamara Traubmann, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: IDF, Israeli Arabs, Israel 

Filmmaker Nizar Hassan, who was suspended recently from lecturing at Sapir College near Sderot, pending a disciplinary hearing, after he ordered a student to leave the classroom for wearing an Israeli army uniform and carrying a weapon, received a show of support Monday from his colleagues and censure from Knesset members.

The student was serving as an Israel Defense Forces reservist at the time.

Nearly 40 Jewish and Arab lecturers at Sapir signed a letter to the college's president and disciplinary committee stating that Hassan "is a talented and courageous artist whose only sin was his attempt to maintain universal civic values, and whose action pointed to the serious phenomenon of the great involvement of the army in campus life."
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Hassan's disciplinary hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

The Knesset Education Committee discussed his case Monday, at the behest of MK Zevulun Orlev (National Religious Party) and others, and decided to condemn Hassan "harshly."

"There is a national, civic and moral duty to ensure the honor of army reservists," a committee resolution stated. The committee also requested to be briefed on the results of the disciplinary hearing.

Last month, Eyal Cohen, an intelligence officer in the reserves, came to a film class taught by Hassan while wearing his army uniform. Hassan reportedly told him to leave immediately, saying, "I do not teach soldiers, policemen and officers in uniform."

Cohen did not leave, and Hassan continued to make negative comments about the Israel Defense Forces during the class.

The lecturers' letter defended Hassan, stating: "For an Arab lecturer who does not identify with the Israeli army and who does not share in the naturalness with which many of us accept those who carry arms among us, it is reasonable that he will request that the necessary boundaries between the army and academia be adhered to and to remind us all of how crucial these are."

The letter notes that there were no disciplinary hearings in previous cases when Jewish lecturers removed armed soldiers from lecture halls.

Sapir College has no written disciplinary regulations, and a senior college official told Haaretz that the disciplinary committee will follow "a clear statement by the college president and the academic ethos, according to which you do not bring politics into the classroom, or insult a student."

Hassan's temporary employment contract warns him against mixing ideology and politics in his lessons. This is the only contract at Sapir (or any other institute of higher learning, as far as is known) in which such a clause has been included.

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      1.   Authoritarian mindset 03:46  |  Hafez ibn Alawi 04/12/07
      2.   No Arab lecturers - it`s a Jewish State 04:00  |  Muhammad the Bear 04/12/07
      3.   Guns in the classroom 04:15  |  Jay 04/12/07
      4.   Beat the leftists with their own stick 04:33  |  brnard ross 04/12/07
      5.   teachers 04:37  |  colin 04/12/07
      6.   hassan wrong. stop this left wing lunacy before it takes over!!!! 04:40  |  ralph 04/12/07
      7.   the necessary boundaries between the army and academia?? 04:45  |  gilead 04/12/07
      8.   If his mind is set against Israel, let him go teach in Gaza 04:51  |  Jorge 04/12/07
      9.   Soldier thrown out of classroom 04:54  |  Stephen 04/12/07
      10.   the Hassan`s defenders should be ashamed of themselves 04:55  |  Baruch 04/12/07
      11.   When Can Students Be Ejected From the Classroom? 05:00  |  Brad 04/12/07
      12.   dangerous precedent 05:25  |  aussie 04/12/07
      13.   Silly and counter-productive 05:28  |  David Band 04/12/07
      14.   This guy should be teaching politics 05:39  |  Yoav Naor 04/12/07
      15.   Thugs & Goons go to school.. really? 05:46  |  POP 04/12/07
      16.   IDF Is Necessary To Country`s Safety 06:50  |  Laguna Geno 04/12/07
      17.   Fire Hassan 06:58  |  Ron 04/12/07
      18.   Censure Them As Well 07:09  |  Yishai Kohen 04/12/07
      19.   The lecturer should be severely reprimanded 07:10  |  Shalom Freedman 04/12/07
      20.   Close Sapir College. If you beleve in justice send this to all 07:15  |  Alex 04/12/07
      21.   He broke his contract! 07:17  |  redmike 04/12/07
      22.   In Countries Hassan likes better, they kill people like him 07:56  |  Efox 04/12/07
      23.   Raise the ethical standards at Sapir 08:10  |  Michael 04/12/07
      24.   arabs can get away with it, not jews 08:13  |  eliezer 04/12/07
      25.   Racism aside 08:24  |  Dani Reiss 04/12/07
      26.   Hassan should be penalised. 08:50  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 04/12/07
      27.   lecturering and politics should not mix 09:13  |  HM 04/12/07
      28.   lecturer 09:14  |  jeffrey turkel 04/12/07
      29.   outrageous 09:19  |  Jewish State 04/12/07
      30.   fascist posters 09:19  |  Israeli 04/12/07
      31.   Even in Switzerland is the army all over the place. 09:21  |  S 04/12/07
      32.   Nizar Hassan 09:40  |  Steve 04/12/07
      33.   Soldiers in classroom 09:45  |  Gabe 04/12/07
      34.   Disgraceful 09:47  |  Dawn 04/12/07
      35.   More Mixing of the military into civilian life 10:10  |  Yaakov Sullivan 04/12/07
      36.   Nizar 10:13  |  Reuven 04/12/07
      37.   gilead is saddend, but by what? #7 10:18  |  Yaakov Sullivan 04/12/07
      38.   Hassan should be thrown out 10:35  |  paul almond 04/12/07
      39.   Universities are not barracks 10:35  |  Leser 04/12/07
      40.   #30 - you are simply pretending to be Israeli! 10:36  |  redmike 04/12/07
      41.   So says Gabe of Haifa 10:44  |  Yaakov Sullivan 04/12/07
      42.   Universities in Gaza 10:47  |  Seth J. Frantzman 04/12/07
      43.   it is not complex, if he is not fired, cut off this college! 10:55  |  Pavel 04/12/07
      44.   What a scumbag! Shame he did not try that in an Arab country 11:00  |  PETER S .M. 04/12/07
      45.   Dani Reiss and others 11:04  |  ChanahS 04/12/07
      46.   IN ISRAEL, THE ARMY DOES WHAT IT WANTS 11:05  |  TrippleJump 04/12/07
      47.   So the poor Israeli Arabs are frightened and persecuted? 11:05  |  PETER S.M. 04/12/07
      48.   The lecturer was right: his classroom is not an army barrack 11:06  |  Eric 04/12/07
      49.   IT SMEELS RACISM....LECTURER OUGHT TO BE APPLAUDED 11:07  |  Elliot 04/12/07
      50.   He should be expelled, not suspended.. 11:22  |  bf 04/12/07
      51.   Steve from Skokie on Israel`s Arabs 11:31  |  Yaakov Sullivan 04/12/07
      52.   "Israeli" 11:37  |  a real Israeli 04/12/07
      53.   Sullivan on what basis should the student have been expelled 11:39  |  Israeli 04/12/07
      54.   fire him 11:40  |  ka 04/12/07
      55.   Sullivan - the finest idiocy 11:43  |  Israeli 04/12/07
      56.   This is just plain stupid.... 11:50  |  Ofer Maimon 04/12/07
      57.   BBZZZZZZZZZZ Sullivan 11:51  |  Israeli 04/12/07
      58.   Israeli # 53 on defending Israel 11:53  |  Yaakov Sullivan 04/12/07
      59.   Yaakov,,,try being quiet and just listen.... 11:53  |  Ofer Maimon 04/12/07
      60.   reasonable responses 11:55  |  Richi 04/12/07
      61.   Israeli and his assumptions #55 11:56  |  Yaakov Sullivan 04/12/07
      62.   But it is O.K. for Jewish lecturers to remove... 12:07  |  Maureen Ann 04/12/07
      63.   Find Another Pulpit 12:08  |  Yehudit 04/12/07
      64.   Re Yishai #18 12:15  |  Esther 04/12/07
      65.   Ofer Maimon, not a chance 12:15  |  Yaakov Sullivan 04/12/07
      66.   Hassan should be disciplined 12:31  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 04/12/07
      67.   #61 Sullivan 12:43  |  ka 04/12/07
      68.   provocation,on vacation;what`s the regulation 12:48  |  uzi`s the 1 for me 04/12/07
      69.   College at fault 12:56  |  Fahmi Natour 04/12/07
      70.   ROTC on US Campuses 12:57  |  American 04/12/07
      71.   CJ Cohen on rights in the classroom 13:01  |  Yaakov Sullivan 04/12/07
      72.   ka on his "moral ground" #61 13:09  |  Yaakov Sullivan 04/12/07
      73.   right israel 13:11  |  sev 04/12/07
      74.   #71 Sullivan`s law 13:19  |  ka 04/12/07
      75.   Outrage 13:24  |  Sherlock Holmes 04/12/07
      76.   politics on leave?has he left his senses 13:25  |  sipurei savta 04/12/07
      77.   Re: Esther #64 13:30  |  Yishai Kohen 04/12/07
      78.   a reservist with weapon is "normal" by Israeli standards 13:33  |  Bob 04/12/07
      79.   Never mind the uniform, what about the gun?? 13:36  |  Mr. T 04/12/07
      80.   ka I agree there should be a policy 13:40  |  Yaakov Sullivan 04/12/07
      81.   64 Ester - blind and irrational 13:46