Yuri Pines

March 2024 update: My position in the Hebrew University

On March 12, 2024, I was informed that the president and the rector of the Hebrew University decided to suspend Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian from teaching in the Hebrew University (HUJI) because of her interview, in which she expressed highly critical stance of Israeli war in Gaza and of Zionism in general. This suspension–which was done without even a semblance of legal procedure–violates basic norms of the academic community in which any statement of any lecturer outside the classroom is not the matter for the university leaders to intervene. Worse, the announcement about Prof. Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s suspension was done not through a letter to the HUJI community but through a letter to a right-wing member of parliament, in which the president and the rector claimed that the university as such is a “proud Zionist institution” and that Prof. Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s views are at odds with those of the university.

For me the president’s and the rector’s statements and deeds were triply humiliating. First, because the colleague’s suspension for an interview unrelated to the university job violated the basic norms of academic freedom. Second, because the claims that HUJI is a “Zionist institution” and has whatever common political line to follow make me (as a person highly critical of many of Zionist ideas and ideals) feel not at home at my university any longer. And third, the fact that the university leaders prefer to placate politicians rather than address the colleagues is deeply humiliating. And, as the Sinological community knows, 士可殺不可辱.

In light of all this, I have decided that I can no longer represent the university in Israel or abroad, and have resigned from all my administrative tasks (including my current position as the director of Confucius Institute). It was a painful decision (HUJI is my home and is the primary reason for which I stay in Israel), but it was the minimal expected protest. My resignation mail (in Hebrew) is here. The English translation is here.

And some good news: after 48 hours of protests by colleagues and students, the HUJI leaders realized their mistake; Prof. Shalhoub-Kevorkian’s suspension was effectively reduced to a single week, and the matter is over, hopefully. I also expect that at some point of time our leaders will find courage to apologize to the university community. I hope that in due time I shall be able to restore trust in my alma mater.

Yuri, March 18, 2024

Community

Interviews, Public talks, and Publications in Mass Media

• • • “China’s Rise: Chances and Challenges” (“עלייתה של סין: סיכויים ואתגרים” video of public lecture, Hebrew)
    • “China: The Pre-Envisioned Empire” (“סין, האימפריה שתוכננה מראש” video of public lecture, Hebrew)
    • Interview on the Boxer Rebellion (“על מרד הבוקסרים” in Hebrew, Israeli Military Radio)
    • Article on Xi Jinping’s leadership (in Hebrew, Haaretz: השינויים בסין: לא קפיצה גדולה קדימה אלא צעדים קטנים של ניסוי וטעייה)
    • Article on the 18^th Congress of the Communist Party of China (in Hebrew, Haaretz: מפלגה בצומת דרכים)
    • Article about myself in China Daily “Israeli Sinologist Studies China through Ancient Thoughts“
    • Round table in HUJI on the 19th Congress of the CPC. My section “Thoughts on Xi Jinping’s Thought” (in Hebrew: מחשבות על מחשבת סי ג’ין-פינג) starts at 56.20
    • Podcast interview on the 19th Congress of the CPC (“The good life Party”) (in Hebrew)
    • Article about myself on the Nankai University news website: 从留学生到汉学家 南开讲座教授尤锐难解“中国缘” (From foreign student to Sinologist: The incomprehensible “China’s predestination” of Nankai guest lecturer, Yuri Pines)
    • Introducing Sunzi in the series “World at War” (Israeli Military Radio, “Broadcast University”; in Hebrew) (שיטות המלחמה של סון-דזה באוניברסיטה המשודרת)
    • On anti-China bias in Western media (in Hebrew, op-ed in Haaretz, 4.3.2020; מאמר עמדה ב”הארץ” “על נגיפים בטבע, בחברה ובתקשורת” (כאן באתר העתון) וכאן המקור  שלי
    • Interview on Israeli Radio about China’s demonization in post-COVID 19 era, 19/4/2020 (in Hebrew, ראיון עם גואל פינטו בכאן תרבות, הקטע עימי בין בין 1:03-1:14)
    • The video link to my Wang Guowei Lecture 从出土文献的新发现重新考察中国早期史学史 (Early Chinese historiography in light of the newly unearthed materials, 2020.9.25 ) (清华大学王国维学术讲座). (In Chinese)
    • “The War on Corona: China’s Experience” (in Arabic: الحرب ضد كورونا: التجربة الصينية); published in Al-Ittihad, Oct 16, 2020; the Hebrew version was refused by Haaretz, perhaps because it violated their norm of not publishing anything positive on China…)
    • “The Ideology of a Total State in Early China,” published for the on-line forum of the Centre for Strategic and Contemporary Research (CSCR), Islamabad, Oct 18, 2020.
    • Video link to my lecture “Social Engineering in the Book of Lord Shang” as part of Conversations on Chinese Philosophy, May 2021.
    • על הפוליטיקה הסינית לקראת ועידת המפלגה ה-20: שיחה עם יובל וינרב, יוני 2022
    • Interview with Tian Wei, CGTN, “China’s Traditional Philosophy and China’s Current Challenges,” October 2022
    • “The Great Unity Ideal: A Key to China’s Imperial Longevity?” Online lecture, Rutgers U., October 2022
    • שיחה על סין, היסטוריה והווה, עם שרון קנטור, “כאן תרבות”, ינאור 2023

Others

• • • Water pipes project, Wangjiashan 王家山 (Liuhecun 六合村) Village, Sichuan