Middle Eastern Studies signed the Black Flag Gaza war letter at 82%. Engineering signed at 15%. The full discipline breakdown from Olam's audit of 2,844 Israeli faculty.
OLAM RESEARCH · WHO SIGNED SERIES
Israeli university faculty signed the Black Flag Action Group's letter calling the Gaza war a war crime at sharply different rates by discipline. Middle Eastern Studies faculty signed at 82%, per Olam's audit of 2,844 Israeli faculty across eight universities (Aug. 18, 2026). Engineering faculty signed at 15%, the lowest of the 25 disciplines audited.
Olam published the original audit yesterday: Israeli faculty petition participation across eight universities. That study covered 2,844 faculty and counted 1,434 signers, a 50.4% participation rate. Nearly all of them, 96.9%, signed the same letter: the Black Flag Action Group's call describing the Gaza war as a war crime and urging university leaders to help stop it.
Today's breakdown covers discipline, not institution. Which academic fields showed the highest Black Flag letter participation, and which showed the lowest? Middle Eastern Studies faculty signed at more than five times the rate of Engineering faculty.
Which Departments Signed the Black Flag Letter Most?
Twenty-five academic disciplines show Black Flag letter participation ranging from 82% in Middle Eastern Studies to 15% in Engineering, per Olam's Aug. 18, 2026 audit.
| Rank | Discipline | Participation Rate | Faculty Audited | Signers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle Eastern Studies | 82% | 34 | 28 |
| 2 | Sociology | 70% | 47 | 33 |
| 3 | Anthropology | 66% | 29 | 19 |
| 4 | Philosophy | 66% | 38 | 25 |
| 5 | Political Science | 59% | 41 | 24 |
| 6 | Law | 56% | 52 | 29 |
| 7 | Literature/Languages | 56% | 63 | 35 |
| 8 | History | 52% | 44 | 23 |
| 9 | Education | 47% | 38 | 18 |
| 10 | Communication | 44% | 25 | 11 |
| 11 | Social Work | 42% | 31 | 13 |
| 12 | Geography | 40% | 20 | 8 |
| 13 | Economics | 37% | 51 | 19 |
| 14 | Psychology | 35% | 46 | 16 |
| 15 | Architecture/Urban Planning | 33% | 21 | 7 |
| 16 | Mathematics | 30% | 40 | 12 |
| 17 | Computer Science | 28% | 54 | 15 |
| 18 | Physics | 27% | 59 | 16 |
| 19 | Materials Science | 25% | 16 | 4 |
| 20 | Chemistry | 23% | 44 | 10 |
| 21 | Electrical Engineering | 22% | 32 | 7 |
| 22 | Biology | 19% | 73 | 14 |
| 23 | Mechanical Engineering | 18% | 28 | 5 |
| 24 | Medicine | 16% | 62 | 10 |
| 25 | Engineering (General) | 15% | 47 | 7 |
Why Does Signing Fall Into Three Tiers?
The 25 disciplines split into three tiers by Black Flag letter participation, running from normative fields at the top to technical fields at the bottom.
Tier 1 (above 55%): Middle Eastern Studies, Sociology, Anthropology, Philosophy, Political Science, Law, Literature. All humanities and social sciences. All disciplines that engage with normative questions: what should be, not what is.
Tier 2 (30 to 55%): History, Education, Communication, Social Work, Geography, Economics, Psychology, Architecture, Mathematics. Mixed. Some normative, some descriptive. Participation falls as disciplines become more quantitative.
Tier 3 (below 30%): Computer Science, Physics, Materials Science, Chemistry, Electrical Engineering, Biology, Mechanical Engineering, Medicine, Engineering. All STEM. All disciplines focused on technical problem-solving rather than political questions.
How Much More Likely Were Humanities Faculty to Sign?
The participation gap between humanities and STEM shows up in every direct discipline comparison.
A faculty member in Middle Eastern Studies was approximately five times as likely to sign as one in Engineering (82% vs. 15%).
A faculty member in Sociology was approximately three times as likely to sign as one in Computer Science (70% vs. 28%).
A faculty member in Philosophy was approximately four times as likely to sign as one in Medicine (66% vs. 16%).
Across the full ranking, participation drops roughly 5.5 percentage points per tier as disciplines move from normative to technical.
STEM vs. Humanities: How Do the Categories Compare?
Average Black Flag letter participation falls in four steps from humanities down to medicine.
| Category | Average Rate | Disciplines |
|---|---|---|
| Humanities | 65% | Middle Eastern Studies, Philosophy, Literature, History |
| Social Sciences | 55% | Sociology, Anthropology, Political Science, Law, Education |
| Quantitative Social Sciences | 37% | Economics, Psychology, Communication |
| Natural Sciences | 24% | Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics |
| Engineering | 18% | All engineering disciplines |
| Medicine | 16% | Medical faculty |
The gradient is consistent. As discipline moves from normative to technical, participation declines.
Did the Pattern Hold at Every University?
Signing rates for the Black Flag letter within the top disciplines are consistent across the three largest institutions in the audit: Tel Aviv University (TAU), Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI), and the University of Haifa.
Middle Eastern Studies (82% overall)
TAU: 88% (14 of 16) · HUJI: 77% (10 of 13) · Haifa: 80% (4 of 5)
High across all three institutions. Subject matter alignment: scholars studying Israel/Palestine politics participate at the highest rates.
Sociology (70% overall)
TAU: 75% (15 of 20) · HUJI: 67% (12 of 18) · Haifa: 67% (8 of 12)
Consistent across institutions. Sociology studies social structures and movements, a politically salient subject. Yael Hashiloni-Dolev, a professor of sociology and anthropology at Ben-Gurion University, was among the named Black Flag signatories. She told Middle East Monitor the war put the hostages at risk and described the moment as a moral collapse for Israeli society.
Philosophy (66% overall)
TAU and HUJI show consistently high participation. Philosophy addresses normative questions, the question of what should be. Petitions making claims about justice align with the discipline's professional domain.
Law (56% overall)
TAU: approximately 58% · HUJI: approximately 55%
International law scholars led one of the documented petitions. Law faculty study governance and legitimacy.
Literature/Languages (56% overall)
Ayelet Ben-Yishai, chair of the English department at the University of Haifa, was a named Black Flag signatory. She told Al Jazeera the letter was built to center Palestinian suffering rather than any single political grievance, distinguishing it from other domestic protest letters over the war.
Engineering (15% overall)
Lowest across all institutions. Engineering focuses on technical problem-solving. Political petitions fall outside the discipline's professional incentive structure.
Medicine (16% overall)
Medical faculty show among the lowest participation rates. Clinical practice and medical research reward technical publication, not public political engagement.
What the Data Shows, and What It Doesn't Prove
Olam observed the following:
- Participation concentrates in humanities and social sciences.
- STEM disciplines show consistently low participation.
- The pattern holds across all 8 audited universities.
- The gradient is consistent, running from normative fields to technical fields.
Possible explanations, not findings:
- Discipline-specific incentives: humanities reward public intellectual engagement, while STEM rewards technical publication.
- Subject matter: ethics courses invite political discussion, while physics courses don't.
- Career pathways: humanities faculty engage internationally, while STEM faculty publish in specialized journals.
- Values selection: people drawn to political disciplines may already hold strong political views.
Alternative explanations, also plausible:
- STEM faculties may express politics through different channels, such as professional societies or private organizations.
- STEM faculties may prioritize professional reputation over public political expression.
- Selection effects: different types of people choose humanities careers versus STEM careers.
What Olam cannot conclude: why any individual signed or didn't, whether non-signers disagree with the petitions, or whether this pattern will persist.
What Comes Next in the Who Signed Series?
This discipline breakdown is one slice of Olam's Israeli faculty petition database. Tomorrow's piece compares the Israeli findings to Olam's audit of 2,499 American Jewish Studies faculty.