Safety and Political Development

On Nov 1, 2022, Israel held an election and the Likud party, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, won a majority by forming a coalition with the following parties: United Torah Judaism, Shas, Religious Zionist party, Otzma Yehudit and Noam.

The coalition has since introduced reforms and legislation that have been viewed as controversial by many in Israel; the greatest criticism has been related to proposed judicial reforms that would overhaul Israel’s high court. While the coalition has stated that they believe the high court to be too leftist in its political stance and thus not representative of the country, others in Israel worry that the proposed judicial reforms would make it too easy for a political majority to override high court judgements and thus the main ‘checks and balance’ in Israel’s democracy would no longer be effective. Since January 2023, there have been demonstrations against the governing coalition’s mandate, which have grown as legislation on judicial reform has advanced in the Knesset.

These protests escalated on March 27, 2023, with a series of strikes, including a general labor strike; in response, the Prime Minister of Israel announced a pause in the advancement of the judicial reform legislation and a willingness to consult on the legislation proposed.

The strikes ended soon after.

The judicial reform legislation has now been separated into different sections, and the Knesset passed the first major bill related to this reform on July 24, 2023. The Supreme Court maintains the power to review this first bill.

Since its inception, Tel Aviv University has been committed to academic values such as freedom of thought and expression; to a culture of equality, diversity and inclusion that is firmly against all forms of discrimination; and to academic achievements, research and learning at the highest level. Our values as an academic institution have remained the same throughout the tenure of each of Israel’s governing coalitions and will continue unchanged.

Providing students with a valuable education is a priority for us and The Lowy International School will always do its best to facilitate uninterrupted studies under any circumstance. While our current students are certainly studying at TAU during a unique time in Israeli politics, there has thus far been very little disruption in class learning and we anticipate that classes will continue to run as usual.

While the heads of all Israeli universities did collectively announce a strike on March 27, 2023, the strike was called off hours later once a positive development had been made. Strikes at Tel Aviv University only occur under very exceptional circumstances, and in those rare cases we always work to minimize any impacts to students. In any other case where there is a disruption, the university commits to offering alternative classes (e.g., Zoom sessions, recorded lectures or rescheduled classes) to allow students to fulfill their studies.

For most students coming from abroad, travel is primarily by airplane and primarily via Ben Gurion Airport. From there, students can take a taxi or the train directly to the TAU campus.

As part of an unprecedented labor strike that took place on March 27, 2023, the airport did temporarily halt some flights (any flights already enroute were still permitted to land). Once there was a positive development, Ben Gurion Airport resumed full services only a few hours later.

We do not anticipate a future shutdown of Ben Gurion Airport.

All students at The Lowy International School receive a welcome kit with safety and wellness information and contacts; safety training during orientation; and regular communications regarding safety and wellness. More information on our safety protocol and approaches can be found on our Safety, Health and Wellness page, via our Safety, Security, Health and Wellness Guidelines, as well as within our Security Guidelines.

Any students travelling independently must complete an independent travel form beforehand so that we can verify that their travel is not to a prohibited area and is aligned with Israel’s most up-to-date safety and security information and permissions (we maintain frequent contact with government security agencies regarding safety and travel).

Key emergency and mental wellness contacts (including our 24/7 student life emergency line) can be found on our Safety, Health and Wellness page.

Other Emergency Contacts