BySARAH BEN-NUN

JULY 20, 2026 15:32

Five members of the Council for Higher Education resigned on Monday to protest legislation that expands gender-segregated academic programs. They described the measure as unprecedented interference in the council's independence and warned it could push women out of Israeli higher education.

Israeli media reports state that four members sent a joint resignation letter to President Isaac Herzog and Education Minister Yoav Kisch, the council chairman. A fifth member, Moshe Vigdor, resigned separately.

The four signatories included Hebrew University chemistry professor Edit Tshuva, a former deputy chairwoman; Technion professor Marcelle Machluf from the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering; Ben-Gurion University computer science professor Jihad El-Sana; and professor Lia Laor from the Levinsky-Wingate Academic College. Vigdor, CEO of the Mandel Foundation Israel and a former CHE director-general, served as a public representative on the council.

CHE members cite threat to academic independence

The four wrote that approval of the law on gender segregation in advanced-degree studies amounts to unprecedented interference in the Council for Higher Education's independence.

They noted that plans for separate study programs would damage core values of Israel's higher education system, such as academic freedom, equality, excellence and pluralism.

The amendment marks a major shift in Israeli higher education and risks excluding women as students, researchers and faculty. It could also damage academic standards, public trust and the global reputation of Israeli academia.

They stated that under these conditions they could not remain on the council and thereby legitimize actions that contradict the values they were asked to uphold, and they resigned immediately.

Vigdor wrote separately that the legislation had weakened the council's capacity to uphold academic standards, equality, academic freedom and diversity.

He added that the law would give state approval to the exclusion of women in academia and later in other public areas.

In the situation created, where the Council for Higher Education might become a rubber stamp for steps that contradict its scientific and ethical foundations, he could not support it through his voice or his silence.

Vigdor emphasized that his choice was not political. He had served as a public representative for about a decade because he believed a strong, free, equal and excellent academic system forms a key part of Israel's national resilience. The resignations were submitted one day before the council's first scheduled discussion on implementing the legislation.

Knesset expands legal basis for gender-segregated programs

The Knesset passed the amendment to the Student Rights Law in a 52-43 vote early Thursday. Sponsored by Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech, it explicitly allows the CHE to approve separate programs for men and women in bachelor's, master's and doctoral studies.

At institutions that otherwise teach men and women together, separation is limited to classrooms and enrollment must be voluntary. The law also states that running separate institutions or programs for religious reasons will not by itself count as discrimination. Son Har-Melech argued that the legislation increases freedom of choice and enables religious students to pursue advanced degrees without leaving their way of life.

High Court petition challenges new law

Six haredi women and 10 academics petitioned the High Court of Justice against the law hours after its passage, seeking to have it struck down or interpreted narrowly.

The petitioners claimed the amendment removed the protections the High Court had relied on when it upheld the council's earlier, limited framework for gender-segregated studies in 2021. That framework applied mainly to haredi students in bachelor's programs, restricted separation to classrooms and barred the exclusion of female lecturers.

The Council for Higher Education has not yet responded.