Tribute to a terrorist... rector’s tears for Palestine extremist at memorial
GLASGOW University is under growing pressure to censure its new rector after a video emerged showing him weeping over the death of a Palestinian terror group leader – whose organisation is accused of participating in the October 7 massacre in Israel.
Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a British-Palestinian surgeon, was installed in the role after receiving 80 per cent of the student vote.
During a speech delivered to mark his appointment on Thursday, he claimed the institution ‘actively colludes in the murder of innocent civilians’ in Gaza because it has shares in arms companies that supply Israel. He also quoted IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands, who said: ‘Our revenge will be the laughter of our children.’
Jewish leaders condemned the 55-year-old’s instalment and said he ‘seeks to make the university a less safe place to be Jewish’.
Now, shocking footage shows the doctor speaking at an anniversary ceremony of the death of Maher Al-Yamani, a co-founder of the proscribed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
The Marxist-Leninist organisation, banned in the UK since 2014, has carried out a number of aircraft hijackings, including the capture of an Air France plane in 1976.
Israel has accused it of taking part in the deadly Hamas-led attacks on October 7. The video of Dr Abu-Sittah – obtained by the Jewish Chronicle newspaper – shows him deliver a tearful speech in Beirut in 2020 in remembrance of Al-Yamani, who he praised for his ‘campaign’ in the West Bank and for continuing to scare the enemy – Israel – from the grave.
Last night Conservative MSP for Glasgow Annie Wells said: ‘I am deeply concerned with the lan guage used by the new Glasgow University rector. Many people will rightfully be outraged at his glorification of convicted terrorists and eulogy of an antisemitic terrorist leader.’
She added: ‘Dr Ghassan AbuSittah should apologise for his deeply offensive comments.’
Al-Yamani was born in Lebanon in 1949 and had been a member of the PFLP since it was started in 1967. He is said to have helped plan the 1968 hijacking of an Israeli El Al plane, for which he was initially sentenced to 31 years in prison.
The film comes after Dr AbuSittah had already been pictured sitting next to plane hijacker and member of the PFLP, Leila Khaled, at a memorial service in 2019. Khaled blew up a passenger jet on the runway in 1969.
The exposure of the doctor’s concerning links comes as he ran campaign to become Glasgow University rector as an ‘opportunity for students to declare their opposition to Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza’ and to ‘stand in solidarity with Palestine’.
Dorothy Sheratt, co-president of Glasgow’s Jewish Society, has previously said: ‘Someone who eulogises proscribed terrorists – as defined in the US and EU – cannot lead the university or fulfil the rector’s obligation to provide pastoral care to all students, equally.’
Timothy Lovat, president of the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council, said: ‘Students have endorsed someone who claims to understand antisemitism better than the Jewish community and seeks to make the university a less safe place to be Jewish.’
Last night a university spokesman said Dr Abu-Sittah had been elected by students, adding: ‘The rector’s views clearly do not represent those of the university.’
Dr Abu-Sittah said: ‘While I may in the past have used emotive language at the funeral of a friend or following an extra-judicial killing, I vehemently oppose terrorism, and civilian casualties on all sides. As a surgeon my vocation is preserving life and I repeat my calls for a sustainable ceasefire and lasting peace.’
His lawyers said Dr Abu-Sittah knew Maher Al-Yamani as a patient and later a friend. He was asked to speak at the memorial on Al-Yamani’s widow’s request. He said he was not aware Al-Yamani was accused of involvement in terror. He had no political affiliation with Al-Yamani or the PFLP, they said.
‘Makes university a less safe place to be Jewish’
‘Cannot fulfil rector’s obligation to students’