On Wednesday evening Edinburgh University’s Students For Justice in Palestine (SJP) manged to attend and disrupt a lecture by Daniel Taub, the Israeli ambassador to the UK.

Taub was hosted by the university’s student politics society, and protected by what one activist told EI was the largest police presence anyone could remember.

“Many of the activists I’ve spoken to, people who’ve been active in student politics for maybe 10 years have never seen a police presence on campus, even at the hight of the anti-cuts movement,” said student union activist Liam O’Hare.

The event was practically clandestine, but activists discovered it: “an invitation that we got wind of maybe two days before the event. It had been kept secret,” said O’Hare. Attendees were searched before entering the lecture theatre.

Outside, more than 100 police officers surrounded a crowd of approximately 150-200 students who were chanting “Zionism is a crime, Free Free Palestine” and “Boycott Israel.”

Inside, activists disrupted the ambassador’s lecture at key intervals, calling Taub a “defender of war crimes” and “ambassador for apartheid.”

Although the head of the politics department personally banned SJP members from attending the lecture, activists manage to use connections to other student societies to obtain tickets.

Mossad on campus?

Students had written to the politics society before the event urging them to cancel. “Taub was here to defend the racist policies of the state of Israel,” said Pete Ramand, Edinburgh’s Black, Minority, Ethnic (BME) student officer in an SJP press release.

“It is an unacceptable situation when someone with such abhorrent and dangerous views can be brought on to campus. It is threatening to students from a Palestinian or Arab background, who are then treated like criminals for attempting to voice their justified opposition to it,” he wrote.

In a statement posted on the Israeli Embassy’s website, Taub laughably claimed he “stands up” to such protesters.

Taub’s statement tried to downplay the numbers, and belittle the students, claiming they “have very little to say for themselves.”

While Taub claims to have been spoken to “a crowd of 150 students,” O’Hare said there were only about 60-70 in the audience, including SJP activists. A significant portion was disruptive, said O’Hare.

As well as the unprecedented police presence, Taub was protected by about half a dozen Israeli security agents inside the lecture theater (although police were not in the hall). O’Hare said he was unable to confirm rumors the agents were armed. The agents were recognizable from previous events on campus, including the visit of former ambassador Ron Prosor and Israeli diplomat Ismail Khaldi.

Fallout continues

The day after the disruption, Mark Aspinwall, the head of the politics department, sent an indignant mass-email out to students in which he moaned that “Shouting down an Israeli Ambassador will not cause Israeli policy to change.”

Aspinwall had organized the event. O’Hare said that according to campus security they had spoken to, Aspinwall’s instructions meant that only certain student societies were allowed to attend. SJP-affiliated students were barred. SJP activists asked the politics society, but they claimed it was a “diktat” from the politics department and from campus security. O’Hare described this as “quite a worrying situation.”

Even more disturbingly, Aspinwall’s email accused protesters of “extremism” merely for exercising their freedom of speech.

Ramand replied to Aspinwall saying he had overstepping the mark: “Your intervention has been extremely unhelpful and has caused alarm to many BME [Black, Minority, Ethnic] students… It is highly divisive to invite a figure whose role is to defend a racial state widely accused of extra-judicial torture and ethnic cleansing. Taub has gone on record declaring his support for Operation Cast Lead, in which the UN Factfinding Mission found evidence of war crimes and possible crimes against humanity.”

He also accused the politics society of “breaking a global campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions” against Israel.

O’Hare told EI that SJP was planning to deliver a petition condemning the “extremist” email to Aspinwall’s office early next week. They will deliver calls from students calling on him to retract his comments and make a public apology.

While students are often criticized for being apolitical “here we have students standing up for human rights … and the head of the politics department calls these people ‘extremists’. It’s quite dangerous,” O’Hare concluded.

Bonus video

Here’s what happened in 2011 when Israeli diplomat Ismail Khaldi tried to speak at Edinburgh University.

Tags

• Edinburgh Students for Justice in Palestine
• Edinburgh University
• Edinburgh University Student Association
• University of Edinburgh
• Daniel Taub
• SJP
• BDS

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Comments

Beautiful, and also sad.

Permalink Robert replied on Sat, 10/27/2012 - 14:33

The disruption of a speech by an apologist for an oppressive regime -- a man who, during the Holocaust in a camp, would have been a kappo in -- is a chaotic but beautiful thing.

At the same time, it is a sad thing that in my own country, there is such indifference, tolerance, and even support for the violent regime that is Israel today. I wish we had so many people in the U.S. who care about what's happening, who understand what's happening, and who are willing to come out and make a loud noise against what's happening.

Astonishing

Permalink Philippa replied on Sat, 10/27/2012 - 15:21

So surprised to hear this about Edinburgh University, of all places. A free education apparently comes at a very high price (there's no such thing as a free lunch?)

Why?

Permalink Brotyboy replied on Tue, 10/30/2012 - 14:50

Why?

I don't think that anyone

Permalink Philippa replied on Fri, 11/02/2012 - 14:29

I don't think that anyone studying in a department headed by the likes of Mark Aspinwall would be getting much of an education. He apparently goes out of its way to invite the representatives of a notorious apartheid state, and does this in semi-secrecy, while trying to control student societies (dictate to the politics society that it should exclude certain groups), etc.
The only way students at Edinburgh's politics department are receiving a proper education, is if they're involved in some kind of effort to remove this man from his position. This is the POLITICS department we are talking about; you would think it's head would be required 1/ to have some basic understanding of international law and more generally the rule of law, and 2/ for this to be reflected in his views and efforts

Zionist Cameramen at Edinburgh Batsheva Protest

Permalink RadicaTruth replied on Sun, 10/28/2012 - 16:22

Zionist Cameramen at Edinburgh Batsheva Protest http://the-radical-truth.blogs...

Shortly after the Edinburgh Batsheva Protest in August 2012, videos appeared on YouTube trying to discredit the protesters with false allegations. The videos are purported to have been taken by Harvey the Zionist undercover cameraman, then passed to his Zionist friend Richard Millett to upload with false allegations.

free speech

Permalink Stephen Cowley replied on Sat, 11/03/2012 - 07:32

It completely discredits any student political society in my eyes when they attempt to prevent people they disagree with speaking on a university campus. Some symbolic 'disruption' of a speech may be acceptable as a last resort, e.g. walking out, but suggesting that we we should speak or listen only to a specified range of views can only inhibit our sympathies. Who specifies what is 'acceptable'? How else can dialogue be fostered if we do not speak to people from other traditions or standpoints? Learning to listen and evaluate is an education in itself, probably more so than attending lectures. There are attempts to discredit far left and far right views on the other side, but two wrongs don't make a right.