All eight existent Israeli universities have filed a High Court motion to disqualify the official decision granting Ariel University Center full university status.
Hebrew University, the Technion, Tel Aviv University, the Weizmann Institute, Bar Ilan University, Haifa University, Ben Gurion University and the Open University filed the motion, which demands that the decision by the Council of Higher Education for Judea and Samaria (CHE-JS) be struck down.
The motion was filed against CHE-JS as well as the Commander of the IDF in Judea and Samaria, the Government of Israel, the Ministers of Defense, Finance and Education, the Council of Higher Education, the Council of Higher Education's Planning and Finance Committee (CHE-PFC) and the Ariel University Center.
The plaintiffs claim that the CHE-JS exceeded the bounds of its authority when it decided, against the opinion of the CHE-PFC, to recognize Ariel as a University, and that its decision is riddled with faults.
MK Alex Miller (Yisrael Beytenu) has criticized Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who for several weeks has been delaying final approval for the CHE-JS's decision to grant the institution fully fledged university status.
"No delay in the announcement is acceptable," said Miller, who is co-chair of the Knesset Lobby for Ariel University. "I remind Ehud Barak that the coalition agreement signed with Yisrael Beytenu includes a section regarding recognition of Ariel as a university," he added.
The existing universities have also asked the military not to approve Ariel's university status.