Following Adalah's Intervention, Haifa University Revokes Ban on Distribution of Leaflet Produced by Arab Students Affiliated to Abna al-Balad
On 27 December 2007, Adalah received a letter from the University of Haifa in which it advised of the cancellation of an order issued by the Dean of Students to prohibit the distribution of a leaflet issued by Arab students affiliated to Abna al-Balad (an extra-parliamentary political movement). The university gave its decision in response to an appeal filed by Adalah Attorney Orna Kohn on 2 December 2007 against the aforementioned order.
In his order, the Dean of Students claimed that his refusal to allow the distribution of the leaflet resulted from what he described as “the use of insults and the calling of names or abusive labels against the [students'] union or other bodies, such as: an American cowboy, a racist [students'] union, the elections to the union – an absurd show …”
In the appeal, Adalah argued that the Dean of Student's order violates the students' right to freedom of political expression. It also illegally infringes the principles of Israeli public law, which apply to public institutions, as well as the university's own regulations regarding holding public activities in the campus. The Dean of Students “does not possess the authority to ban the distribution of a document due to its contents nor based on ‘etiquette and manners', authority that the Dean of Student apparently assumed he possessed in prohibiting the distribution of the leaflet on the ground that it does not meet the private criteria of courtesy that he himself has determined,” argued Adalah.
Adalah emphasized that in this case, which relates to political expression, the language contained in the leaflet does not constitute any danger to any protected interest; nor does it meet the requirements of the “probable danger” test, the Israeli legal test for limiting speech. As Adalah stated, “There can be no doubt that the leaflet in question is protected under freedom of speech and that the Dean's order to prohibit its distribution violates freedom of speech in a manner that contradicts the status of freedom of speech as a fundamental right and the test prescribed by the rulings of the Supreme Court.”
Following Adalah's appeal, the President and Rector of Haifa University sought the opinion of the university's legal advisor, who found that doubts exists over whether the contents of the leaflet constitute a violation of the law, and therefore ordered the approval of its distribution.
