One of the demands of pro-Palestinian activists who have set up protest camps on university campuses in Canada and the United States is to sever ties with Israeli universities.

They accuse Tel Aviv University and other research institutions in Israel of complicity in the war that Israel is waging in Gaza and its occupation of Palestinian territories. But some prominent Israeli academics say that their universities are also home to leading voices for peace and have been at the forefront of the internal protest movement against Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government.

Professor Ran Barkai, who teaches prehistoric archaeology at Tel Aviv University, said in an interview on Wednesday from Israel: “Academics in Israel are striving for peace – perhaps more than any other part of Israeli society.”

He added that Israeli universities should be empowered because they are home to major forces pushing for reconciliation with Palestinians.

"Good relations with them should be maintained because they are the center of reason in Israel - if the wise can be reached, it will be through the people in universities ... A reduction in relations with Israeli universities will only harm the chances for peace."

For the branches of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights at McGill University and Concordia, which are among the organizers of the camp that took place on Saturday at McGill University, Israeli universities are complicit in the war and there is nothing to be gained by dialogue with them. They say that the camp will remain until "their universities cut all academic ties with Israeli institutions."

Lio Kori, president of the Open University in Israel, is clear about the responsibility of academics in his country regarding the conflict with the Palestinians. He said that professors, like most other Israeli citizens, pay taxes and serve in the army – and the state requires male citizens over the age of 18 to serve in the Defense Forces for at least 32 months and women for at least 24 months.

Kori said in an interview from the Tel Aviv area: "In a way, we are all part of what is happening here," adding, "Part of the problem I face and others is the way (the conflict) is presented in black and white, and I think that is harmful, misleading, and problematic."

He added, "Israeli scholars and other academics have been involved in producing some Israeli defensive weapons, such as the Iron Dome, which has been credited with helping to prevent significant damage or loss of life from an unprecedented attack launched by Iran last April, which included hundreds of drones and ballistic and cruise missiles."

Kori said, "Fortunately, we have that. Imagine what would have happened if we hadn’t."

"We live in a very difficult part of the world. And if you are in McGill or anywhere else in the U.S. or Canada, you can shout or scream, but you won’t come to defend us when we need it. Right? So, we need to defend ourselves - but that doesn’t mean that whatever the army is doing, or what the government supports, or certain parts of society, is in my view the right thing to do."

Barkai said that if Canadian researchers cut their ties with Israeli universities, academics in Canada would lose the ability to influence Israeli intellectuals. He added that international researchers could benefit from insight and innovation in Israel, but "these links work in both directions."

He added that Israeli academics learn a lot from their international colleagues. "They get a better perspective on how we are viewed in the world. And this makes us understand how we should act, and what we need to do better."

Before October 7, when Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel, the country was in turmoil for months due to civil unrest against Netanyahu and his far-right political allies and ultra-Orthodox leaders, who were pushing forward plans to pass controversial changes to the Israeli judiciary.

Barkai said he and his colleagues were regular participants in those protests, adding that he is sure the government would resort to undermining Israeli universities once the matter with the judiciary was settled. He added that harming universities in Israel, including isolating them from the international community, would only damage the most important forces working against Netanyahu's "regime" and trying to replace it.

He added, "If there is a chance for change, it comes from within academic circles."

At the McGill protest camp, demonstrators vowed to stay despite the university's decision to ask the police to remove them. Daniel Schwartz, a professor of Russian and German cinema at McGill University, said he supports the camp and calls for universities to sever their ties with Israeli research institutions.

He said there are several research collaborations with Israeli universities that are used for military purposes, adding that "the end result is the death of innocents which I cannot support." Schwartz, who is Jewish, said that Israeli universities deny Palestinian history, "which further dehumanizes. And I feel that many of these universities censor their academics and undermine critical discourse."

The war between Israel and Hamas erupted after an unprecedented raid on October 7 in southern Israel, during which militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 hostages. More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to local health officials, and the war has led to the displacement of about 80% of Gaza's 2.3 million residents, causing widespread destruction in many towns and cities and pushing northern Gaza to the brink of famine.