National Union of Israeli Students

The union is registered as a nonprofit association under Israel's Associations Law, 1980, bearing association number 58-015010-0. Its registered English name is "National Union of Israeli Students - National Students Representative Association."[1] Its current About page describes it as the representative organization of about 400,000 students and as a home for student associations and communities operating across Israel's campuses, colleges, and universities.[2]

The bylaws define the association's members as student associations rather than individual students.[1] Eligible associations must generally have operated continuously for at least 12 months, have been elected through democratic elections at their institution, avoid discriminatory membership practices, and complete a four-month candidacy period before receiving full membership rights.[1] A student is defined for representation purposes as someone studying for a Council for Higher Education-recognized academic degree, a pre-academic preparatory program, a Ministry of Education-recognized teaching certificate, or a government-recognized practical-engineering degree, provided the relevant student association holds lawful membership.[1]

The bylaws organize affiliated associations into regional groupings covering Jerusalem, the South, East-Sharon, the North, the Center, and Haifa. Listed institutions include the Hebrew University, Ben-Gurion University, Tel Aviv University, the Technion, the University of Haifa, Ariel University, the Open University, and numerous academic colleges.[1]

The association's supreme institution is the presidency, which functions as the general assembly and is composed of the chair, deputy chair, and representatives of member associations.[1] Additional governance bodies include an executive, a governing committee, an auditor, an audit committee, a tenders committee, a bylaws committee, a finance committee, an investment committee, and further standing or temporary committees.[1]

The governing committee has nine voting members: eight serving chairs of student associations and one public representative. Of the eight association chairs, four come from university associations and four from college associations; the composition must include at least one chair from an institution in the South or North and at least one woman. The union chair and deputy chair attend as non-voting observers.[1]

The executive consists of the chair, deputy chair, chief executive officer, and deputy chief executive officer. Its responsibilities include budget implementation, enforcement of institutional decisions, coordination among member associations, management of international student-organization ties, and implementation of audit-committee recommendations.[1] Chair elections are held once every three years and deputy-chair elections every 18 months; no person may serve as chair for more than two three-year terms.[1]

The union's stated principles include non-discrimination on grounds of religion, nationality, race, sex, gender, color, and country of origin; independence from political parties and outside political influence; public meetings and conferences; an aspiration to unite all active student associations in Israel; and maximum transparency and proper administration.[1] Its purposes include representing students before state institutions, the Council for Higher Education, local authorities, and Israeli and international bodies; advancing student welfare; promoting academic freedom; broadening access to higher education; and cultivating Israel's next generation of leadership.[1]

Local student unions at Israeli universities began operating in the 1920s, and a national body representing students was first established in the 1930s.[3] The National Library of Israel holds a collection titled "Collection of Publications of Student Organizations in Israel" (shelfmark V 2402), containing publications that reflect student-organization activity at universities and other higher-education institutions. The catalog dates the collection's materials from 1900 to 1927.[4] Classified as a small collection but containing hundreds of items, it documents an early period of organized student life in the country.[4]

In a 1971 estimate, the National Union of Israel Students had approximately 35,000 members, compared with about 50,000 represented through the North American Jewish Students' network. WUJS then comprised 30 national-union members and correspondent student organizations, with total membership estimated at 100,000–110,000.[3] The same historical reference described National Union elections as yearly and identified the union as the Israel branch of WUJS, with its chair serving as a WUJS vice chairman.[3]

At the World Jewish Congress Sixth Plenary Assembly in Jerusalem in February 1975, Hanan Ben-Yehuda was listed as chairman of the National Union of Israeli Students while serving as a WUJS delegate, and Ygal Lanker was listed as vice-chairman of the National Union of Israel Students.[5]

A subsequent WJC report covering 1975–1980 named the "Israeli Students' Organization" as one of four major youth organizations represented on the Youth Advisory Committee of the WJC Israel Branch, alongside the Council of Youth Movements, the Dor Hemshech division of the World Zionist Organization, and WUJS. The committee met several times, and some projects were implemented with assistance from the WJC Cultural Department.[6] The report does not explicitly establish whether its "Israeli Students' Organization" label referred to the same legal entity as the National Union named in the 1975 assembly records.

By 2013, the union represented more than 300,000 students from 64 academic institutions.[7] In addition to parliamentary lobbying, it operated social-involvement scholarships, tuition-financing assistance, community programs, aid for elderly people and Holocaust survivors, and programs supporting young people.[7] The union's scholarships department describes its work as encouraging social change and strengthening student involvement in the community. Scholarships are offered in exchange for participation in national projects, with applications generally opening between August and March around the beginning of the semester.[8] Eligible applicants include students pursuing bachelor's, advanced, or certificate studies at institutions recognized under the Student Rights Law, 5767–2007.[8]

At a Knesset committee session on July 4, 2017, the union was described as representing approximately 340,000 students across 90 institutions, from Tel Hai in the north to Ben-Gurion University's Eilat campus in the south.[9] Transportation was identified as a major area of activity, including cooperation with the Ministry of Transport on the "Fast to Campus" program, a five-year planning initiative intended to map campus transportation needs and replace ad hoc responses with long-term infrastructure planning.[9] Surveys were conducted at Gordon Academic College, Sapir College, Achva College, the Safed academic institutions, Ariel University, and Ruppin Academic Center. The union also worked on public-transportation access for Arab students under a master plan associated with Government Decision 922.[9]

A 2025 Knesset position paper placed gender equality in academia at the center of the union's strategic agenda. The union reported conducting its 2024 annual student survey with more than 16,000 participants and described measures including support for women in STEM, leadership and salary-negotiation workshops, expanded campus childcare, flexible academic arrangements for student parents, breastfeeding and infant-care spaces, pay-transparency initiatives, and training on unconscious gender bias. The paper also noted the creation of a dedicated Gender Equality Coordinator position.[10]

The union runs two language-training programs: StudentSpeak for English and Medabrim Aravit for spoken Arabic, the latter in cooperation with Perach.[11] It also coordinates "influence communities," described as social and peer spaces that promote more equal and inclusive academic policy.[11] The annual Student Survey examines learning quality, employment, financial behavior, and students' views on current affairs. The 2025 edition was identified as the fourteenth survey in this format, with the series conducted since 2009.[12]

The union's national importance rests in its aggregation of local student associations into a single representative framework. Its bylaws authorize it to represent students before state institutions, the Council for Higher Education, local authorities, and organizations in Israel and abroad.[1] The organization defines its central goals as expanding equal access to higher education, improving the quality and employment relevance of the student experience, and creating opportunities for civic and social involvement through programs, scholarships, and service groups.[2]

Its recurring Student Survey provides a national source of data on academic quality, employment, finances, and student attitudes.[12] Historically, the union's relationship with WUJS also connected Israeli student representation with the wider Jewish student movement.[3]

The union has engaged in organized efforts to counter antisemitism and Holocaust denial online and in academic settings. A 2013 Knesset discussion described a multilingual online program run in cooperation with a French Holocaust memorial organization and the Israeli Jewish Congress. The program monitored or responded to antisemitic and Holocaust-denying content on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Yahoo Answers, and Wikipedia.[7] Activities included documenting incidents, editing Wikipedia entries, responding to questions with sourced information, reporting inciting material, and using educational, graphic, humorous, and advocacy-based approaches.[7]

The union and Israeli student associations adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism and called on Israeli academic institutions to follow suit.[13] Following that call, 24 Israeli universities and higher-education institutions formally adopted the definition.[13]

In January 2024, Jerusalem Post reporting identified Elchanan Felhaimer as chairman of Israel's National Student Union. Felhaimer said Israel had approximately 387,000 students, including about 70,000 still serving as military reservists.[14] He reported that the organization had mobilized students to assist families evacuated from southern and northern communities, launched an international awareness campaign with the Hostage Families Forum, raised millions of shekels for tactical equipment for IDF soldiers, and pursued student scholarships.[14]

The union pressed the Council for Higher Education and academic institutions to provide accommodations for reservists, including an emergency forum within the council, shortened eight- or nine-week semesters, online access to classes, additional academic credits, mental-health support, tutoring, and minimum standards across institutions.[14] Felhaimer described an assistance package totaling half a billion shekels, including a NIS 60 million fund for reserve-duty students, NIS 140 million for academic institutions, full scholarships and tuition waivers for students at Sapir Academic College and Tel-Hai College, psychological assistance, and private tutoring.[14]

The union separately described its wartime scholarship and volunteer activity as a national auxiliary effort, stating that thousands of students would respond to needs in Israeli agriculture, the education system, and local authorities. One initiative, the National Harvest Scholarship, invited students to volunteer in agricultural harvesting in exchange for a tuition scholarship.[8]

In 2024, the union developed a plan to combat incitement to terrorism on campuses. Student associations supporting the plan committed to taking action against lecturers or students who expressed support for terrorism and, depending on the case, to demanding dismissal or expulsion.[15] The initiative did not receive unanimous support: the report identified associations that opposed it and institutions that abstained. Its proposed disciplinary measures placed questions of academic freedom and the authority of student associations at issue.[15]

In 2023, the union petitioned Israel's High Court of Justice over government funding allocations to yeshivas. It argued that increased financing for religious institutions while funding for parallel nonreligious institutions declined violated equality principles under Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty. The petition asked the court to require the government to explain the discrepancy.[16]

The union's adoption and promotion of the IHRA working definition of antisemitism is accepted within the organization and by the 24 institutions reported to have adopted it, although the definition remains politically contested in some academic and public contexts.[13]

Published representation figures vary by date and source: more than 300,000 students from 64 institutions in 2013 and approximately 340,000 from 90 institutions in 2017.[7][9] January 2024 wartime reporting cited approximately 387,000 students, while a 2025 position paper said more than 380,000.[14][10] The union's current About page says it represents about 400,000 students.[2] These date-specific estimates should not be treated as directly interchangeable.