closeicon

Is this 'Antisemitism Institute' part of the problem?

December 07, 2012 19:29

http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/93498/walk-outs-over-islamophobia%E2%8...

One of those who walked out of this meeting in protest was Professor David Feldman. He is Director of the Pears Institute for the Study of Antisemitism at Birkbeck College, London University.

He said: “Unfortunately, the unfounded arguments of some speakers and expressions of religious prejudice from others did a disservice to Jews and others seeking to combat antisemitism.”

But when it comes to Israel bashing it would seem that the Institute that he heads and the Pears Foundation that finances it "do a disservice to Jews and others seeking to combat antisemitism".

For Professor Feldman sees nothing wrong in hosting the likes of the anti-Zionist Jacqueline Rose who makes antisemitic comparisons between Jews and Nazis - in 2005 in an interview Rose said:

“It seems to me that the suffering of a woman on the edge of the pit with her child during the Nazi era, and a Palestinian woman refused access to a hospital through a checkpoint and whose unborn baby dies as a result, is the same.”

And the Pears Foundation is financing an organisation that wants a boycott of goods from Judea and Samaria:

http://www.thejc.com/blogs/jonathan-hoffman/pears-foundation-funds-israe...

How strange - especially given his position as head of a so-called "Antisemitism Institute" - that Professor Feldman's sensitivities seem far better developed in the case of Muslim-bashing than in the case of Israel-bashing - which so easily turns into antisemitism....

December 07, 2012 19:29

Want more from the JC?

To continue reading, we just need a few details...

Want more from
the JC?

To continue reading, we just
need a few details...

Get the best news and views from across the Jewish world Get subscriber-only offers from our partners Subscribe to get access to our e-paper and archive