Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Wednesday that he was looking at slashing the funding awarded to the Ben-Gurion University in the Negev after it hosted a pro-Palestinian event on campus.
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Arab students held a rally on Monday marking "Nakba Day," when Palestinians mark the "catastrophe" of Israel's inception in 1948. During the rally, speeches were made that marked the creation of Israel as a "day of mourning," rejected Israel's existence as a democratic Jewish state and promoted armed resistance against the country.
A counter-demonstration was held at the same time by Israeli students, with both sides being kept separate by barriers, police, and campus security personnel.
"At a rally held at Ben-Gurion University, things were said and done that reject the existence of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state," Lieberman, who heads the right-wing Yisrael Beytenu party, said.
Lieberman said he gave instructions "to examine the conduct of the university in order to exercise my authority to reduce its budget."
Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton said Monday that the images from the rally were "unbelievable," adding that the Council for Higher Education would examine the rally as potential incitement.
Beersheba Mayor Ruvik Danilovich denounced the event as a "disgrace."
A statement by the university cited by the Times of Israel said that International Diversity Day was marked two days earlier and that the events showed that students from all over Israeli society at the campus are able to "hold a variety of opinions and views."
The campus, it said, is "a meeting point" for people and new ideas, and therefore administrators allowed "two political gatherings with opposing views."
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