Dear academic and administrative staff and students,

The new academic year is set to begin this week, while our country is still engaged in a difficult war. Over 100 hostages have yet to return home to their families, tens of thousands of northern residents have not yet returned to their homes, more than a thousand of our students are still serving in the reserve duty, and many others have only recently finished their military service or are soon to be called up again.

Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif

Spiritual Head of the Druze Community

Chairman of the Druze Supreme Religious Council

Dear Sheikh Tarif,

We would like to express our sincere participation in the mourning of the Druze community and the State of Israel for the murder of the 12 children and teenagers - Fajar, Amir, Hazem, John, Izil, Finis, Yazen, Alma, Naji, Millar, Nadem and Jifara.

Dear members of the Hebrew University community,

The student union decided last night to join other student unions in Israel, and shut down classes this coming Thursday, as part of the fight to free the hostages.

The University management decided to adopt a policy of inclusion on this day. All classes will take place as planned, but no mandatory attendance policy will be enforced. Students are responsible for completing the study material.

Dear Faculty members,

Lately we have been experiencing a challenging time with the continuation of the war, a situation that sometimes affects our international cooperation. This situation can also affect the enthusiasm for writing research proposals for important funds such as the ERC.