Far be it from me to reignite the flames surrounding the UJS-Douglas Murray fall out of ten days ago.
But having just read this piece by Carly McKenzie on Comment is Free, I do wonder what exactly goes through the minds of the UJS hierarchy sometimes.
Here Carly writes:
“[Fosis] would have us believe that it holds a commitment to liberal ideology. Conversely, those who invite hate speakers on to campus are donning a cloak of hypocrisy and employing theoretical freedoms as a form of liberal protection. What is liberal about inviting proponents of homophobia, antisemitism and sexism to speak at universities? What exactly is so liberal about hosting advocates of racial and religious violence?”
She goes on to name check the likes of Azzam Tamimi and Daud Abdullah – well known to readers of the Jewish Chronicle – as leading guests of Fosis.
She writes that Fosis use the cry of freedom of speech to host such people, and that in doing so the Islamic group employs “the grossest of double standards”.
If UJS feels so strongly about those who invite hate speakers on to campus – proponents of homophobia, antisemitism and sexism – why choose to sit on a panel with Fosis? Why, when they demand you drop a friendly speaker you have previously asked to take part, do you not tell them where to go?
Last week Carly and her colleagues claimed it was the right decision to dump Mr Murray in order to ensure the panel debate went ahead with Fosis included.
UJS said Fosis had avoided “tough, honest and well-researched questions” and refused outright to “acknowledge any problem or responsibility for the problems prevalent on our campuses”.
Adam Pike, UJS chair, went so far as to say Fosis had been “put on trial” by Jewish students.
Post-event the UJS line was: We confronted them, they had no answer. We were right to dump Douglas in order to allow us to undertake this grilling of Fosis.
When questions were asked as to why, once again, UJS had caved in to pressure, and criticism was levelled by Stephen Pollard, Melanie Phillips and Mr Murray himself, UJS responded with a scathing attack, claiming the trio of commentators were “royally out of touch with political messaging” and repeatedly attacking them in blogs and on social networking sites.
Now, ten days later, we have a UJS piece telling us how outrageous Fosis is and how the group avoids resolving the problems it faces.
When Cambridge University’s Israel Society dumped Israeli historian Benny Morris at the behest of Muslim students, UJS indicated it would in turn expect Tamimi, Abdullah et al to be dropped in future.
This time Mr Murray is dropped and then publicly criticised for having the temerity to complain when shown the door in favour of a group UJS now tells us invites proponents of antisemitism onto campus.
There has been not the slightest shift in the approach of either Fosis, or indeed the universities, to tackling extremist speakers. There is no suggestion that the grilling at UJS’ hands will encourage Fosis to now change its ways whatsoever.
UJS keeps acceding to these demands, receiving nothing in return and then hitting out at friends who criticise their actions.
“Once bitten, twice shy” goes the old saying. Perhaps UJS is now hoping to get it right third time lucky?
