Learn about the history of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, equality and justice by exploring major events in the history of their oppression on this day of the year.
30 November
BOARD OF DEPUTIES SMEAR SCOTTISH UNIVERSITY
On this day in 2015, Jonathan Arkush and SCoJeC met Edinburgh University representatives to express “regret that Edinburgh University had gained a reputation as a difficult environment for Jewish students” due to academic staff being hostile to the State of Israel. They do not seem to have discussed the bizarre nonsense aired on TV by Friends of Israel that an Edinburgh University professor said openly to a student “that he had failed two of her essays because she is Jewish and supports the State of Israel".
المجلس الاسكتلندي للجاليات اليهودية يبتز جامعة اسكتلندية
30 نوفمبر
في مثل هذا اليوم من عام 2015 ، التقى جوناثان أركوش ، ممثل المجلس الاسكتلندي للجاليات اليهودية ، بممثلي جامعة إدنبرة للتعبير عن "الأسف لأن جامعة إدنبرة اكتسبت سمعة كبيئة صعبة للطلاب اليهود" نظرًا لكون أعضاء هيئة التدريس معاديين لدولة إسرائيل. لا يبدو أنهم ناقشوا الهراء الغريب الذي أذاعته قناة "أصدقاء إسرائيل" على شاشة التلفزيون ، اذ ادعت ان أستاذا في جامعة إدنبرة قال صراحةً لطالبة "إنها فشلت في مقالتين من مقالاتها لأنها يهودية وتدعم دولة إسرائيل".
Arkush' concept of racism is sinister. He was roundly condemned by many British Jews when he publicly contratulated Donald Trump on winning the 2016 US presidential election. Many reminded him he was congratulating the candidate backed by the KKK and White supremacists generally. Arkush stood by his statement.
Despite the best efforts of Arkush and ScoJeC, many Jews see through their efforts to conflate anti-semitism with hostility to Israel's atrocities:
"As a Modern Orthodox Jew, a recent graduate from the University of Edinburgh and a former President of the University’s Jewish Society, (2012/13), I congratulate the student body’s decision to pass a motion of BDS. This is a victory for minority rights and democracy at the University. BDS is a non-violent campaign called for by over 170 Palestinian civil society organisations which use the methods of boycott, divestment and sanctions from institutions and companies who benefit from and contribute to Palestinian oppression in order to pressure the Israeli state to operate within the boundaries set by international law. EUSA has stood in solidarity with Palestinians through their ‘Right to Education Week’ and their twin union the Palestinian Birzeit Students Union in the West Bank since 2005. This vote shows that EUSA and Edinburgh University students are still committed to liberation politics. In the light of growing anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and racism across Europe, this show of solidarity comes as a welcome and much needed stand."
Tony Greenstein exposed the phoney "anti-racism" of Arkush and the Board of Deputies after a supposedly
‘anti-racist’ demonstration was organised by the Board of Deputies outside Parliament. Such was their commitment to ‘anti-racism’ that well known anti-racists such as Norman Tebbit of ‘cricket test’ fame participated. For those who have forgotten perhaps a reminder is due. Tebbit when an MP remarked that ‘"A large proportion of Britain's Asian population fail to pass the cricket test. Which side do they cheer for? It's an interesting test. Are you still harking back to where you came from or where you are?" Tebbit was of the view that British Asians really belonged back in India and Pakistan. In 1991 Tebbit told Woodrow Wyatt that ‘"because some of them insist on sticking to their own culture, like the Muslims in Bradford and so forth, and they are extremely dangerous."
Yet these characters are treated as bona fide anti-racists by far too many people who could easily discover their sordid history of inventing anti-semitism and working with dyed-in-the-wool racists such as Tebbit, his current equivalents and worse.
The latest instalment of the Scottish fake anti-semitism campaign was reported in the London Times, November 16, 2021:
Nicola Sturgeon has become embroiled in an antisemitism row after Scottish Jews said that her stance on Israel would promote hostility towards them. The Union of Jewish Students said that policies such as the Scottish government's commitment to strongly discourage trade between Scotland and illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories would put Jews at risk by making university campuses "incredibly hostile". The Scottish Council of Jewish Communities (ScoJec), which represents Jews across the country, said that the SNP's views on the state were akin to the "desecration of a synagogue".