More than 1,600 academics, writers and public figures – including around 60 members of the House of Lords – have signed an open letter defending Professor Michael Ben-Gad, an Israeli-born economist at City St George’s, University of London, following a campaign of harassment over his nationality.
The letter, coordinated by staff at the university, including Professor Ian Pace, and by the London Universities Council for Academic Freedom (LUCAF), was endorsed by leading figures from across politics and academia. It condemns attempts by a student group to have the professor dismissed on the basis that he – an Israeli citizen who studied, taught and worked in Israel at various times – served in the Israel Defence Forces in the early 1980s. The statement says such attacks “are intimidating, particularly to Jewish students”, and affirms Ben-Gad’s “personal and intellectual freedom as an academic”.
Those backing the appeal said they “deplore any campaign that seeks to intimidate and drive out lecturers because they are Israeli, Jewish or members of any other group”.
Among the prominent supporters are parliamentarians from across the political spectrum, including Lord Nigel Biggar, Conservative peer and Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at Oxford, Lord Ken Macdonald KC, the former Director of Public Prosecutions; Baroness Margaret Hodge, the Labour peer and former chair of the Public Accounts Committee; and Baroness Kate Hoey, the cross-bench peer and former Labour MP. Conservative MPs Claire Coutinho and Laura Trott, the Shadow Minister for Equalities and Shadow Education Secretary respectively, also lent their names. Well-known academics such as Sir Niall Ferguson, Professor Jonathan Haskel of Imperial College London, and Dr Kathleen Stock joined the appeal, alongside members of the Committee for Academic Freedom’s (CAF’s) advisory board, Professor Abhishek Saha and Professor Alice Sullivan.
The letter follows a months-long campaign by activists at City calling for Ben-Gad’s dismissal, which coincided with the announcement of a Gaza ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages. Members of a group known as City Action for Palestine (CAP) have accused him of “working in a genocidal society” and “serving in the IOF [Israeli Occupation Forces] Armoured Corps”.
In a separate social media post, CAP declared: “We will not be silenced. We will not allow evil to roam free on our campus”, adding: “Until Liberation & Return.” The group also circulated a graphic using information from the university’s website highlighting the professor’s military record and previous employment at Israeli institutions. CAP described his tenure at the University of Haifa between 2001 and 2007 as “six years working in a genocidal society”. His undergraduate study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1988 was criticised as having taken place “in the occupied territories”.
The post, co-branded with the Association of Student Activism for Palestine, concluded: “Shame on City for allowing a terrorist to be near and teach Arab and Muslim students.” A petition demanding his sacking has been launched, and repeats accusations that he is a “terrorist” and a “war criminal”.
In mid-October, CAP organised a protest on campus, again calling for Ben-Gad’s dismissal. Police were called to the Clerkenwell campus as masked activists displayed posters of Ben-Gad against a blood-stained background bearing the words: “Ex-IOF terrorist roaming in our lecture halls.” One demonstrator shouted: “He killed my people in Lebanon.”
Last week the group interrupted one of Ben-Gad’s lectures, with footage showing a protester saying: “This is not someone to learn from… this man has blood on his hands.” Speaking later to Sky News, the professor said: “I finished my lecture and it was invaded by protesters who came right up to my face and called me a war criminal and a Nazi. They refused to leave, they were masked. One of them made a threat about having my head chopped off.”
CAF advisory board member Abhishek Saha said that “vile, targeted harassment” of this kind “is not something that we should tolerate at a university”, adding: “There has been this idea that if you don’t like what someone says or does… you can cancel them. We are sending a message that this should not happen.”
Ben-Gad has also received strong backing from his institution. City St George’s vice-chancellor, Professor Sir Anthony Finkelstein, told the Jewish Chronicle: “At City St George’s we will not tolerate bullying and harassment of our staff and students. It is unlawful and repugnant.”
Sir Anthony – whom the same protesters now accuse of having “blood on [his] hands” – added: “Neither Michael nor I are inclined to be bullied or intimidated. We stand up for our Jewish students, we stand up for our staff, and we stand up for the principles of freedom of expression which make our universities great.”
This article forms part of the Committee for Academic Freedom’s monitoring of developments in UK higher education. To receive monthly updates and analysis on cases affecting academic freedom, click the link and subscribe to our newsletter.