SOAS Student Union votes to ban Israel lectures, backed by SOAS UCU leaders

The Students' Union at London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), one of the UK's highest ranked university centres for the study of the Middle East, Africa and Asia, has voted to demand the cancellation of a lecture series organised to mark the centenary of Tel-Aviv.

The series has been organized by SOAS' Professor Colin Shindler, the UK's first professor of Israeli Studies, who has also been a friend of mine for over twenty years.

The students of SOAS include a very large number of from Arab and other Middle Eastern countries and others who are passionately supportive of the Palestinian cause. But SOAS during most of the recent history of the Israel-Palestinian conflict has also been a place where those students and those from its Hebrew and Israeli Studies centre attend lectures on the Middle East conflict and the history and culture of zionism and discuss the issues in a spirit of scholarship and free enquiry.

Ironically, the Students' Union website carries a constitution proclaiming its commitment to free speech and its absolute commitment to opposing discrimination. That was voted in in 2006, after a previous history of attempts by some student groups to intimidate Jewish students in the name of anti-zionism. Throughout that history, the SOAS directorate firmly opposed such action and subsequently adopted a "Freedom of Expression" code which all who are members of the School are expected to sign up to.

But this latest action has been taken by the Students' Union in the name of boycotting Israeli academics in response to the current Gaza conflict, because they are amongst those who have been invited to lecture in Colin Shindler's Tel-Aviv centenary series.

Here's an even greater irony. The series started last term (and resumed for the current term on Monday night, despite the Student Union banning vote). Amongst the speakers were the Palestinian Authority ambassador, who was formerly a well-respected academic at Bethlehem University, as well as an anti-zionist Israeli academic.

Here's Colin Shindler's statement, issued before the vote was taken, demonstrating his impeccably and consistently sustained record of peace activism on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:

Our lecture series ‘Tel Aviv at 100: 1909-2009’ began last term and followed the normal pattern of lectures that we organise around a theme each year.

Professor Joachim Shlöer of Southampton University started the series when he spoke about his academic studies on the history of Tel Aviv. The Palestinian Ambassador, Professor Manuel Hassassian, formerly of Bethlehem University gave a paper on ‘Tel Aviv and Ramallah: The Next 100 Years’. Professor Reuven Snir, an anti-Zionist Israeli Professor from Haifa University spoke about Arabic literature in Israel. This term, academics from Tel Aviv University were due to speak on the same theme on non-contentious subjects such as architecture and music. The first lecture this evening is by Professor Anita Shapira, on of Israel’s leading historians on the early history of Tel Aviv.

It is therefore terribly unfortunate that these lectures, planned months ago, have coincided with the terrible events in Gaza.

Any call for cancelling this series will be seen as not based on opposition to the centenary, but on the participation of Israeli academics. A resurrection of the attempt to boycott academics simply because they are Israeli regardless of their opinion about the tragedy in Gaza. SOAS as an institution and the British government have always strongly opposed and condemned such a boycott.

Academic institutions rightly do not suppress different narratives and different opinions. Its ethos is that the violence of the street should not be brought into the classroom. On a personal level, it is something that I hold to dearly and even if I am in a minority of one, I will adhere to this and not bow to any intimidation.

I have never called for the cancellation of a lecture at SOAS even if the views expressed were not to my liking – such as the participation of a Hezbollah representative in a recent conference or the talk, given by the hijacker, Leila Khaled in the past.

In the ten years that I have been at SOAS, I have always worked hard for my students, regardless of their opinions and background. I will continue to do this.

I hope that colleagues will not discriminate against students whose opinions on the Israel-Palestine conflict they do not agree with.

These are difficult times for all of us. I am grateful to the many colleagues – whether they share my views or not – who have contacted me. Let us hope that the killing ceases this week and we can attempt to rebuild the bridges between us.

Last night, I was at SOAS to hear presentations by Colin Shindler and Dr Emmanuele Ottolenghi on Israel and the Gaza War. The lecture theatre was packed. The presentations were excellent. The post presentation questions and discussions were courteous and attentively listened to. Amongst the SOAS student respondees at the end was a woman in Islamic dress who said she deplored the Student Union vote, and strongly supported free speech. And there was also the ardent pro-Palestinian activist who demanded to know why the Palestinian perspective had not been included. But then, as Colin Shindler pointed out, this was a special event presentation on Israel and the Gaza War. And the activist had spoken as if there was one single Palestinian perspective, although the presentations had discussed the ample evidence of the strongly divergent politics of different Palestinian parties, particularly Fatah and Hamas. 

Clearly, the issue is not just about attempting to ban Israeli academics, though that's appalling enough. It's a clear cut attempt to boycott any public academic presentation about Israel, however unrelated to the Gaza conflict, or even the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And it's also about an attempt to impose a one-story Palestinian account, despite the academic evidence of a divergent, complex politics amongst Palestinians and their allies.

So much for the SOAS Students' Union. Sources at SOAS also tell me that Colin Shindler has been put under a great deal of pressure to cancel the series by leaders of the SOAS branch of UCU, the academic staff union, of which he is a member. Will SOAS UCU now act in favour of or against free speech?

Comments

[Carolian]

We must hold the line on this one. SOAS Students Union and UCU cannot be allowed to influence academic independence. Shindler must be supported.

[Carolian]

Please can everyone who opposes this Orwellian attempt at academic censorship go to the lectures to support Colin

[AndrewB]

https://zionist.org.uk/index.php?id=39&event=133

The lectures start at 5.30 in Room G50 at SOAS. 26 Jan; 2 Feb; 23 Feb; 2 March; 16 March

Please go -- and stand up against academic censorship

[Joe Camel]

"Freedom of speech is like a plague!" We've heard that before:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7247817.stm

[Embarassed SOAS student]

SOAS's management are, thank god, pretty set on these events going ahead.
We all got this email last week:

Dear Colleagues and Students

I have received a number of emails and letters regarding the Tel Aviv
Special Lecture Series taking place at SOAS this term, with the first
lecture taking place this evening. Some of these letters and emails
ask me to cancel the lectures, some urge me to allow the lectures to
go ahead.

At the core of SOAS's mission as a University is our commitment to
academic freedom, and I am proud that SOAS is an institution grounded
in the academic pursuit of knowledge, which welcomes a diversity of
views and provides a forum for free and open debate on a range of
issues affecting our regions.

Because of our commitment to open debate, and because of our regional
focus, lectures and events that take place at SOAS do often cause
controversy. I am regularly lobbied to intervene to cancel an event,
then lobbied again by a different group to ensure that the event goes
ahead. Provided we are acting within the law, and provided I can
ensure the safety of staff, students and visitors, my response to such
requests remains firm: SOAS is in a rare position as an institution
to be able to provide a forum for free and frank debate on some of the
most important issues affecting the world today and it is my job as
Director to ensure that academic freedom can prevail.

For this reason the School's senior management team has decided that
the first lecture in this series should go ahead this evening. That
decision has not been taken lightly whilst the terrible conflict in
Gaza continues. I respect all those views expressed to me -- both by
those asking for the series to be cancelled and by those asking for it
to continue and I once again express my heartfelt concern and sympathy
to all those affected by these devastating events. But this lecture
series takes place as part of a wider series of events which, last
term, included a lecture on Tel Aviv and Ramallah at which the
Palestinian Ambassador Professor Manuel Hassassian was a keynote
speaker. At the same time as the first Tel Aviv lecture is taking
place, the School's Students' Union Palestine Society, is holding a
lecture entitled 'Gaza as a Metaphor: Victims and Perpetrators.' This
is a typical evening at SOAS, where a wide range of issues from a wide
range of perspectives are debated in an atmosphere of enquiry and
tolerance. It is my job as Director to uphold freedom of speech and
tolerance, which is one of the School's most fundamental values, and I
therefore hope you understand and respect my decision.

Professor Paul Webley
Director and Principal

Incidentally, there is another rather embarassing event going on at SOAS right now. I just got this email too:

Dear Colleagues and Students

Some students have occupied part of a SOAS building, the Brunei Suite.
The School is working with the SOAS Students' Union to resolve the
situation as quickly and peacefully as possible. The School will take
all measures to ensure the health and safety of staff and students
during this time period. We will be in touch with staff and students
by email and via the SOAS website with updated information as it
becomes available.

Professor Paul Webley
Director & Principal

And, from the SU,
To all staff and students

As you may be aware some students are occupying the Brunei Suite in response to the Ministry of Defence's "We Were There" exhibition. Whilst the Union does not support unlawful activity, we support the group's aims and objectives, as they are in-line with Students' Union policy as passed in Union General Meetings. We are in negotiations with the School and the occupying students to find the most constructive outcome to the action. Our main priority is the welfare of all students and staff. We will keep you updated as to further developments.

If you have any questions or comments please e-mail Nizam Uddin on fin.com@soas.ac.uk

Nizam, Ben & Marya