Olmert: No funding for bodies that refuse to employ officers

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert yesterday excoriated opposition to the appointment of Col. Pnina Sharvit-Baruch as a lecturer for Tel Aviv University's Law Faculty because she allegedly gave the legal go-ahead for the Israel Defense Forces to perpetrate "war crimes" during the recent operation in Gaza. Olmert responded to such criticism by saying that Israel would not support state-funded institutions that discriminate against IDF officers because of their military service.

"In my opinion, any university that disqualifies lecturers on such grounds, before an examination [of their service] has been concluded, is not suitable to receive funding from the Israeli government," Olmert said.

The outgoing prime minister dismissed the protesters who opposed Sharvit-Baruch's appointment as "a number of self-righteous, sanctimonious, arrogant hypocrites who chose to make an exception out of the military service of the IDF Advocacy General without determining if she is guilty [of crimes]."

The objections to Sharvit-Baruch followed a recent Haaretz article about the current head of the IDF's international law division. The article said that under Sharvit-Baruch's command, IDF legal experts legitimized strikes liable to harm Gaza civilians, including the bombardment of the graduation ceremony of the Gaza police force.

Leading the protest against Sharvit-Baruch's appointment is Prof. Chaim Ganz, of the University's Minerva Center for Human Rights. Haaretz also published an editorial in which it expressed its opposition to Sharvit-Baruch's appointment.

Attorney General Menachem Mazuz yesterday said the editorial piece "did not present the facts correctly." He added: "I don't understand how such things can be written without being properly checked." Tel Aviv University President Zvi Galil called Cabinet Secretary Oved Yehezkel yesterday and said Prof. Ganz's opinions in no way represented those of the university. "Many faculty members have come out against him," Galil said. "Do not project [his opinions] onto Tel Aviv University as a whole. The officer will teach at the university as planned."

Galil added: "It's strange that our immediate and determined decision not to rescind Sharvit-Baruch's appointment to teach at Tel Aviv University has been used to question our university's mores."

During yesterday's cabinet meeting the ministers also discussed war crimes charges filed against Israeli security officials in a Spanish court. "Any indictment [against Israeli officials] will have a direct impact on diplomatic relations with Israel," Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said.