More than 80 Israeli academics endorsed a special pre-election ad published this past Friday in Haaretz newspaper urging the public to vote for the Joint Arab List.

“We’re on board, how about you?” read the title of the ad.

“The Joint List is the home for all those who believe in full civil and national equality for Arabs and Jews, in ending the occupation, in true democracy, in peace and in social justice,” wrote the academics.

“On September 17, we’re voting for the Joint List!” concluded the ad.

Signatories of the ad included 20 academics from Tel-Aviv University, 11 from Ben-Gurion University, 9 from Haifa University, and 5 from Open University.

Academics from Hebrew University, Tel-Hai College, Bar-Ilan University, Sapir College, Shenkar College, the Weizmann Institute of Science, and Beit Berl College were also among the signatories.

Matan Peleg, CEO of the Zionist watchdog organization Im Tirtzu that first reported the ad, called the ad “disgusting.”

“It is nothing short of disgusting that these academics would urge the public to vote for an anti-Israel party who one of its members, MK Heba Yazbak, praised the terrorist Samir Kuntar who murdered a four-year-old girl by bashing her head on rocks,” said Peleg.

“If it wasn’t enough that these radical academics set the tone for Israeli academia, now they are trying to decide the future of Israel,” continued Peleg. “Every citizen who holds Israel dear must go out and vote in Tuesday’s elections to ensure that this does not happen.”

The attached photo is of the ad in Haaretz on September 13, page 8.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)