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

[Lena]

Dear Cambridge protesters,My name is Thomas, and I am an Oxford diidssent. I have written a short story to sum up our adventures in the Radcliffe Camera. It is entitled Adventures in the Radcliffe Camera'. I was hoping you would take inspiration from it, that it would keep your spirits high, and that it would get published on your website. Have any similar vignettes been written about your experiences?Here is an extract from the novella. It is from the first chapter, where Mary, aided by a mysterious stranger named Toothy', first enters the Radcliffe Camera.Adventures in the Radcliffe Camera Come on, Mary! Gareth shouted from the bottom of the Radcliffe Camera. Gary Gary I can't do it! Mary replied, staring at the four foot high fence in front of her, its jagged iron points gleaming ominously, like a murderous chef's knives. I I'm going to go home. Gary shook his woollen hat clad head, a small dot in the crowd of protesters already over the barricade. Don't be ridiculous! Come here! Mary stared at the chef knives again, a plan of action beginning to form in her head, when she felt a gloved hand on her shoulder. ere, lassy! a toothless old man, eyes rolling manically, proffered his hands. I'll give yer leggie! Leg ? Mary asked, confused. Ee leg up, he repeated. I'm too old to go in dere, but don't you worry. I'll do all I can to help yee, yee? Yee. Before she could stop him, Mary was pushed up and over the fence. The strength of the man was unbelievable. Toothy Gould! he shouted through the bars of the fence. Don't yee ferget me name! T-thank you! Mary shouted, before she was pushed away by the surge of the crowd.I am solidly in solidarity with you all.Thomas Smith

[Christine]

Dear Rev. Willems,Your understanding of the facts is fweald. The Negev belonged to Israel after the armistice agreement that ended the war of 1948. About 80% of Israel's population is considered Jewish. The Arabs of Israel have three political parties that are predominantly Arab, and at least two or three Arabs have served in the Cabinet (but not enough). And there is a big difference between the rights enjoyed by Arab citizens of Israel as opposed to those of non-citizens who live under occupation. About half of Israel's Jewish population originates from the Arab world, from which about 800,000 were expelled in the 1950s and 1960s. The European-origin population of Israel are survivors of centuries of persecution or discrimination in the Christian world, not to mention the Holocaust. (Intermarriage between these two segments of Israel's Jewish population is high.) Europe did not fight for Israel's survival in 1948, 1967, nor in 1973. The problem began with European antisemitism, but it has gone far beyond the time of colonialism. The solution voted back in 1947 by the UN (not just Europe) of two states for two peoples with protections for minorities is still available, if only both parties would fully grasp it.

[Ghiath]

What follows is a few prphgaaras from the booklet titled "Big Lies: Demolishing the Myths of the Propoganda War Against Israel" by David Meir-Levi:The State of Israel was created in a peaceful and legal process by the United Nations. It was not created out of Palestinian lands. It wascreated out of the Ottoman Empire, ruled for four hundred years by the Turks who lost it when they were defeated in World War I. Therewere no Palestinian lands at the time. There were Arabs who lived in the region of Palestine who considered themselves Syrians. It was only after World War I that the present states of Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq were created artificially out of the Turkish [Ottoman] Empire by the British and French victors. Jordan was created on about 80 percent of the Palestine Mandate, which was originally designated by the League of Nations as part of the Jewish homeland. Since then, Jews have been prohibited from owning property there. Two-thirds of Jordan's citizens are Palestinian Arabs, but it is ruled by a Hashemite monarchy.In 1947, the UN partition plan mandated the creation of two states on the remaining 20 percent of the Palestine Mandate: the State ofIsrael for the Jews, and another state for the Arabs. The Arabs rejected their state, and launched a war against Israel. This is the primal cause of the Arab refugee problem.The Arab refugees were roughly 725,000 people who fled because of the war that the Arab states not the Palestinian Arabs -- started.The Arab states - dictatorships all - did not want a non-Arab state in the Middle East. The rulers of eight Arab countries whose populationsvastly outnumbered the Jewish settlers in the Turkish Empire, initiated the war with simultaneous invasions of the newly created state of Israel on three fronts. Israel begged for peace and offered friendship and cooperation to its neighbors. The Arab dictators rejected this offer and answered it with a war of annihilation against the Jews. The war failed. But the state of war has continued uninterruptedly because ofthe failure of the Arab states Saudi Arabia and Iraq in particular tosign a peace treaty with Israel.

[yaiphxamo]

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[Bartek]

What makes me so angry about this video is that over 90% of the students in the riot don’t give a damn about the Palestinians, they’re just bored idtios. And I must respectfully disagree with our gracious host Bob–I bet they couldn’t find Israel on the map even after they got to college.No, these are bored rich kids who care about nothing. They wear their Palestinian scarves and wave Che Guevara flags (what does the Cuban butcher have to do with Palestine?) just because their lives are so empty that they want something to get excited about. They came to college to find themselves, only to find out that they are boring and empty. They believe in nothing so they go about and look for someone who is excited about something and follow them in hopes that some of their purpose will rub off on them. Too bad they don’t bother to notice that the people they hang out with are evil.I think that gal in the tight, spaghetti strap t-shirt giggling as she runs up the escalator should see that video of the religion of peace that Bob linked to in todays B&R Friday Edition to get a taste of how girls like her would be treated if the people she is following ever get in charge.