Some 1,300 academics from universities and colleges across Israel sent a letter on Tuesday to the heads of the academic system in Israel, urging them "to mobilize the full weight of Israeli academia to stop the Israeli war in Gaza."

The academics, organizing under the name Black Flag, criticized institutions of higher education for playing a central role in opposing the government-led judicial overhaul, yet remaining silent in the face of the current events in Gaza.

"This is a horrifying litany of war crimes and even crimes against humanity, all of our own doing," the letter reads, adding, "We cannot claim that we did not know. We have been silent for too long."

Prof. Ido Shahar of the University of Haifa told Haaretz that the initiative began with meetings between students and lecturers, during which "a cry emerged — saying this can't go on."

"At a certain point, the realization sinks in that we can't go on normalizing the current situation and behaving as if a horrifying war of deception isn't happening — one that leads to mass killing, sacrifices the hostages and whose sole purpose is transfer and settlement," he added.

Among the letter’s signatories is also Prof. On Barak of Tel Aviv University. According to him, the name Black Flag was chosen as “an attempt to speak to Israeli society in its own terms.”

According to Barak, the term Black Flag is familiar to every Israeli who served in the military. "It carries historical weight," he said, "as it was coined by [then Jerusalem Magistrate Court] Judge Benjamin Halevy following the 1956 Kafr Qasim massacre, in which 48 innocent Palestinians were killed by the Israeli Border Police."

The use of the term, he added, “is a reference to a [legal and moral] protocol — one that marks the moment when Israelis from across the political spectrum recognize the need to hit the brakes.”

Barak adds that Israeli academia has a vital role to play in the re-humanization of Gaza's population. "The widespread indifference [toward Gazans] among many Israelis is the result of an intensive dehumanization campaign that must be actively resisted," he said.

“Historical research shows that the devastating effects of famine endure for generations. The tragedy unfolding before us now will leave its mark for years to come, even if it were to end today.”

According to Prof. Yael Hashiloni-Dolev of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, there is a direct connection between opposing Israel's actions in Gaza and concern for the hostages held by Hamas.

“One can’t deny that the violence directed outward — toward the population of Gaza, the vast majority of whom are uninvolved civilians — also turns inward, toward the hostages and their families,” she said.

"Anyone who kills mothers and starves babies in Gaza is also harming the mothers of the hostages."

“That’s why there’s only one solution: end the killing in Gaza and release the hostages. This war knowingly and deliberately puts the hostages at risk, and anyone who refuses to acknowledge that is simply denying reality,” she added.

“Anyone with even a shred of responsibility or humanity can no longer buy into the propaganda. We must recognize that war crimes and crimes against humanity are openly being committed in Gaza. We’re in the midst of a moral collapse.”

According to Hashiloni-Dolev, “it’s the Israeli government — not its critics — that is endangering the soldiers. It’s the government that has entangled them with international courts, not the human rights organizations; and it’s the government that sends them to kill and be killed, without rescuing them if they're taken hostage.”

"The shame and blame must be redirected to where they truly belong," she added.

“I hope all of us will stop cooperating, because as long as we normalize the situation and go on with our lives, the war won’t end, and the sadism toward Gaza’s population and the hostages will continue,” she said.

"A black flag flies over these crimes. I call on people to refuse such illegal orders."

"Black Tuesday" was declared yesterday by the group across Israeli academia, marking a coordinated day of protest at numerous universities and colleges. Students and lecturers, dressed in black, stood silently on campuses, while black flags were hung on bulletin boards.

"This is the first action against the ongoing denial and the silent support for crimes being committed in our name," the organizers said.

At Tel Aviv University, dozens of faculty members and students gathered in the central square near the library, holding black flags. They read poems and held discussions.

Tensions flared when the campus security chief demanded that protesters leave the premises and remove the signs and black flags they had displayed, claiming the demonstrations violated university regulations.

Witnesses told Haaretz that the security chief attempted to snatch a sign from one of the participants. According to those present, he also shoved a protester who was filming the scene, as well as a female student who confronted him.

The security chief called the police, but officers arrived only after the protesters had dispersed. Later, according to video recording and testimonies from participants, a student draped in an [apartheid] flag appeared and shouted racist slurs at one of the Arab students. He was joined by a faculty member opposed to the protest, who was seen pushing one of the students.

One of the lecturers who helped organize the protest, speaking to Haaretz on condition of anonymity, said she believed the demonstration had made an impact.

“There’s a sense of a breakthrough, that from now on, it won’t be possible to hold back,” she said. “There’s a whole community living under a kind of censorship, feeling stifled, with a scream lodged in their throats. The message we got from the students is clear: they need us to stop staying silent.”