RE teacher who penned ‘F*** Israel’ Facebook posts receives reprimand
AN RE teacher who set up a fake Facebook account to post anti-Israel and antisemitic comments has been reprimanded by the teaching watchdog.
Edward Sutherland, a principal teacher at an Ayrshire high school, claimed at a General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) hearing that the social media page was an attempt to snare racists.
The tribunal found, however, that the posts were antisemitic and fell short of the behaviour expected of a teacher, giving him a nine-month sanction.
Sutherland, the convenor of the Confederation of Friends of Israel Groups in Scotland, wrote phrases including “F*** Israel” and lied about an incident of antisemitic graffiti.
He also wrote online: “If I lose my job because some Zionist doesn’t like me supporting the people of Palestine, don’t worry about it. I’ll still have my dignity.
“The see you next Tuesday who complained won’t have. Rant over.”
Other entries by the Belmont Academy teacher included: “I knew I’d seen that f ****** zio before. Tried to stitch up a good mate of mine. P **** . Free Palestine ya b ****** ”.
And “Looks like a certain Zio’s big nose is out of joint. Don’t worry [Person B]. You’re going to get what’s coming to you.
“I hear you’re in a lot of trouble. And that complaint’s going in.”
In the teacher’s defence, his legal representative said the posts were antiIsrael but not antisemitic and argued the “distinction between Zionism, a political position, and Judaism, a religion”.
During the fitness to teach hearing, a witness known as Witness 2 said they knew Sutherland, a teacher with 25 years’ experience, through Glasgow Friends of Israel, a pro-Israel advocacy group. A report of proceedings detailed how Witness 2 explained that members of Glasgow Friends of Israel use fake accounts on social media to urge others to comment and out themselves as racists and bigots.
They then, according to the witness, report the material to Police Scotland.
Another witness, Witness 3, who is a solicitor, described the posts as “role play” and confirmed that a post saying there had been vandalism at his home was invented.
In a written statement, Sutherland said he had set up the Facebook page in the name of Stevie Harrison (SH) in a bid to protect friends, including the solicitor.
The report states: “He stated that from October 2018 to January 2019, the posts he made as SH were specific to seeking to deal with Witness 1.
“The teacher said that he had consulted with Witness 3 on a daily basis, taking on board his occasional suggestions as to content.
“He accepted that in principle it was not appropriate for a teacher to create a fake Facebook account to ‘entrap’ others under explanation that he had acted entirely defensively in order to protect his friends.”
In its published findings, the GTCS panel found the majority of the Facebook posts did not meet the threshold for antisemitism.
It did find one post antisemitic, a comment that read: “Looks like a certain Zio’s big nose is out of joint. Don’t worry [Person B].
“You’re going to get what’s coming to you.
“I hear you’re in a lot of trouble. And that complaint’s going in.”
The tribunal said that Jewish people having large noses is a “widely accepted offensive trope” and classed the comment as antisemitic.
It found this amounted to misconduct and fell short of the standards of behaviour of a teacher.
The panel gave Sutherland, who had been previously suspended by South Ayrshire Council, a reprimand that will stay on his record for nine months.
It said: “The panel noted that there had been no repetition of the behaviour in the intervening three years and that the events represented an illjudged, one-off incident in an otherwise unblemished teaching career.”
I hear you’re in a lot of trouble