Election of first Arab rector a ‘message of hope’ for Israel

By Joseph Tulloch

In 2024, Mouna Maroun was appointed Rector of the University of Haifa, becoming the first member of Israel’s Arab minority – an underprivileged group that, according to rights organisations, continues to face structural discrimination – ever to hold the role at an Israeli university.

Maroun is also a Christian, hailing from a small Maronite Catholic village on the slopes of Mount Carmel. Christians make up only around 7% of the total Israeli Arab population, which in turn represents about one fifth of Israel’s total, and Maroun’s tale of success – as a woman, an Arab, and a Christian – is therefore a noteworthy one.

Her election was “a miracle”, Maroun tells Vatican News, coming as it did only a few months after Hamas’ 7th October attacks and rising tensions between Arabs and Jews within Israel.  In April 2024, she had been appointed the University of Haifa's Rector, or chief academic officer, a role second only to the President in the university heirarchy. 

Maroun describes her appointment as a “message of hope” and a sign that “things can be different in Israel”, that Jews and Arabs “can succeed together and can live together”.

Academic boycotts of Israel

Maroun hails from Israel’s north, home to a high Arab population, and some 45 percent of the students at her university are Arab.

This is part of the reason Maroun is opposed to the boycotts that have seen some foreign universities cut ties with their Israeli counterparts, as a response to the huge civilian death toll caused by Israel’s war in Gaza.

“A boycott doesn't help anyone,” she says, “especially not an academic boycott, because Israeli academia is doing something amazing to empower Arabs … and increase their social mobility.”

Maroun adds that she thinks that foreign universities should engage directly with their Israeli counterparts, as a way to “empower” the “liberal” elements within the country.

Mouna Maroun speaks to Vatican News

Maintaining humanity

As an Israeli Arab, Maroun says that she has “sympathies on both sides” of the current conflict in Gaza.

“You don’t have to be a Jew in order to be terrified regarding what happened on the 7th of October,” she says. “And you don’t have to be an Arab to be terrified regarding the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and the killing of innocents.”

Being human, she says, means “having empathy for victims from both sides.”

Maroun also stressed the role that the Church and Holy See ought to play as a “neutral agent” in promoting peace in the region. This should include, she said, collaborating with Trump administration in the US, due to its influence “on both Israelis and Palestinians”.

“This is our faith”, Maroun concludes: “Reconciliation, forgiveness, and peacemaking.”