Minister of Education and Chairman of the Council for Higher Education Naftali Bennett has renewed his attempts to make Ariel University a member of the Committee of University Heads. Speaking at the 7th conference of the Council for Higher Education, he challenged members of the committee, "You said that you are not a closed club? Now is the time to move from words to deeds. The burden of proof is on you."
In a speech otherwise full of praise for Israeli academia, the chairman of the Jewish Home Party defended his role in bringing balance to higher education, saying, "Israeli academia is not, was not and will not be a branch of the Jewish home, but it has also ceased to be the home field of Breaking the Silence and the extreme left."