Students ‘disturbed’ by ‘martyr’ speaker
THE UNION of Jewish Students is “deeply disturbed” that an academic who defended Hamas, described how he “longs to be a martyr” and said the Shoah was “being exploited by those now commencing a Holocaust against the Palestinians” spoke at a British university on Tuesday evening.
Dr Azzam Tamimi was one of the advertised speakers at an event titled “Palestine: A question of morality”, hosted on the UCL campus by the university’s Friends of Palestine Society and City University’s Palsoc.
In a 2010 lecture at the School of Oriental and African Studies, the Palestinian academic told students: “Today Hamas is considered a terrorist organisation because that’s what the Americans and Israelis and cowardly politicians of Europe want, but what is so terrorist about it?
“You shouldn’t be afraid of being labelled extreme, radical or terrorist. If fighting for your homeland is terrorism, I take pride in being a terrorist.
“The Koran tells me if I die for my homeland I’m a martyr and I long to be a martyr.”
He has also advocated the destruction of Israel, urging people “to eradicate Dr Azzam Tamimi: controversial
this cancer from the body of humanity”.
Daniel Kosky, campaigns organiser for UJS, condemned “the hateful and violent language Azam Tamimi has spewed at rallies and events, including at previous university events”. He told the JC Dr Tamimi was “a speaker who has a history of inciting hatred against Jewish people and the state of Israel”.
He said UJS had asked UCL to review whether it should give Dr Tamimi a platform, but was “disappointed that this platform is being offered”.
The UCL Friends of Israel Society said it was “deeply concerned” about the event, pointing out that in January, the UCL Friends of Palestine had posted on Facebook that “no member of Hamas, nor any unapologetic member of any militant group of any army has ever been platformed by our society and we will continue to stand by this in the future”.
The Friends of Israel group said that inviting Dr Tamimi had “betrayed” that promise. “Free speech is a core value at UCL and one which we as a society uphold and respect, but a line must be drawn when it descends into hate speech. It is therefore of grave concern to us that someone who targets a national group and who incites others to commit crimes has been granted the liberty to promote these views.”
A spokesperson for UCL said the university “is committed to ensuring that free and open discussion can take place in an atmosphere of tolerance for different viewpoints.”
A spokesperson for the UCL student union said that measures were available to manage the risk of having “speakers whose previous statements raise concerns”, including asking for written guarantees about the content of the event and putting in place an experienced independent chair.”