A Tel Aviv District Court judge ruled that Tel Aviv University had "violated freedom of expression and succumbed to pressure from the Chinese Embassy" when it took down a student exhibition last year the focused on the oppression of the Falun Gong spiritual movement at the hands of the Communist Chinese government.
The exhibition featured 25 paintings by 17 artists from around the world. It depicted Falun Gong spiritual practices and the torture and executions its members have been subjected to in recent years.
The Jerusalem Post reported that the exhibition was originally approved by the head of the Asian Studies department at TAU, Prof.Yoav Ariel, along with the university's administration, which allotted nearly two weeks in March 2008 for the presenters to show the paintings inside the central on-campus library. But after just two days, organizers were told that the exhibition had to be removed. After initially protesting the move, they were given an additional three days to hold the exhibition, but were then told it had to come down. The two students who had organized the exhibition claimed that the decision to shut down the exhibition had been made after TAU was pressured by the Chinese Embassy in Tel Aviv and then went to court. "Removing the exhibition is a serious, unacceptable and unabashed infringement by university authorities on the plaintiff's freedom of expression and the students' and the public's right to know," they wrote.
The Jerusalem Post reported further that after more than a year of legal battles, Judge Amiram Benyamini ruled that TAU had "succumbed to pressure from the Chinese Embassy, which funds various activities at the university, and took down the exhibit, violating [the students] freedom of expression." Benyamini also stipulated as part of his ruling that the exhibition be given another week to be shown, and ordered TAU to pay some NIS 45,000 (about $11,500) for the students' court costs. TAU declined to comment on the matter and a spokesman at the Chinese Embassy refused to comment.
Haaretz also reported that the Student Union and Professor Ariel had the exhibit removed because of a request by the Chinese Embassy, and that he said he removed the exhibition because of fears that association with Falun Gong might negatively affect how Judaism is received in China, and also that Tel Aviv University has to take into consideration its ties with Chinese universities including student exchanges. Haaretz also reported that TAU spokeswoman Orly Frumer had responded that the exhibition was mounted with Student Union approval, and she did not know why it was taken down.
Falun Gong worldwide marks an annual Falun Dafa event on the 13th of May. This event marks the day that the movement became established in 1992 as well as the birthday of the teacher of the art, Li Hong Jei. The event is celebrated in more than 100 countries around the world by Falun Gong believers in the principles of "Truth, Compassion and Tolerance."
The Chinese government has outlawed Falun Gong, which became an overwhelmingly popular exercise movement in which hundreds of thousands participated in early mornings in China. There have been convincing reports of massive torture, torture to death, outright murder, and many imprisonments of Falun Gong adherents in China.
A Falun Gong newspaper also reports that the Chinese are known to have removed internal organs from prisoners for sale in the human organ market for transplants.
Sources:
Epoch Times, Israeli edition (May 18-26, 2010). Weekly issue #164. (Translated from Hebrew)
Edelman, Ofra (March 11, 2008). TAU exhibit on Falun Gong meditation shuttered over Chinese pressure, students charge. Haaretz.com. http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/tau-exhibit-on-falun-gong-meditation-shuttered-over-chinese-pressure-students-charge-1.241033
JPost.com (Jan 10, 2009). Court backs students in TAU row over Falun Gong exhibit the university removed. http://www.jpost.com/Home/Article.aspx?id=156344
