Tens of thousands of students against the CHE: "Promoting political messages"

The Open University Student Union, representing approximately 50,000 students, is demanding that the Council for Higher Education (CHE) stop collecting membership dues for the National Student Union, claiming that its chairperson, Sivan Klein, is promoting political messages that do not represent the entire political spectrum, especially less than three weeks before the elections.

The Open University Student Union, representing about 50,000 students, has informed the Council for Higher Education (CHE) that it demands an end to the payment of membership dues to the National Student Union. This amounts to ten shekels per student, totaling half a million shekels annually. According to the union, the money is transferred without sufficient transparency and oversight, while the chairperson of the National Union, Sivan Klein, promotes political messages and campaigns that do not represent the entire student body. The timing is particularly significant – less than three weeks before the elections. Klein has published videos and posts on social media dealing with party platforms for young people, presenting the "Yashar!" party of Gadi Eisenkot as having adopted the union's demand to establish a youth cabinet. The National Union explained that they approached all parties and "Yashar!" was the only one to adopt the demand. The article notes that an examination of the platforms of Likud, Otzma Yehudit, and Religious Zionism found references to issues concerning young people: housing, employment, and assistance for those who served. This move joins criticism that has also arisen in other unions, including at the Technion and the Ono Academic College. The National Union's response: the body is non-partisan, approached all parties, and the praise for "Yashar!" is for adopting a substantive demand, not an expression of support. The CHE did not respond.