Students of a JFS teacher accused of having “strongly defended” Ken Livingstone’s statements on Zionism during an event at the school last week have praised him as “one of the most engaging teachers that the school has.”

Ethan Saunders, who teaches politics at the school, was present at a talk given by Dr David Hirsh to sixth form students. According to Dr Hirsh, at the end of the talk Mr Saunders stood up and said that the visiting speaker “hadn’t told the whole story to the students; it was a pretty clear allegation not only that I kind of got it wrong, but that I was speaking in bad faith.”

Dr Hirsh also said that Mr Saunders had “strongly defended Livingstone - his defence of Livingstone was that Livingstone was correct.

“I’ve no idea what he teaches his students, but I have to tell you that [at this event] what he was clearly trying to teach his students was something which I would worry about. What he was trying to teach them was certainly a cause for concern.”

Martin Bright, a former political editor of the JC, was present at the talk, having been invited by Dr Hirsh. He said that Mr Saunders had been “accusing Dr Hirsh of bad faith, essentially. He was saying, you presented this in this way, but here are four or five facts that you have omitted.

“They weren’t being represented as opinions or potential debating points. From the teacher’s perspective, these were facts that Dr Hirsh had intentionally omitted from his talk. It was hostile. It wasn’t offered in the spirit of debate. It was [in the sense of] ‘you’re wrong, I totally disagree with you and here’s why’.”

Following publication of the story on Thursday, a number of Mr Saunders’ students contacted the JC to defend the teacher and his conduct at the talk.

Two sixth form students who said they were present at the talk said that “Mr Saunders did not ‘strongly defend’ Ken Livingstone’s remarks on Hitler and Zionism.

“Mr Saunders never directly addressed Ken Livingstone’s comments”, they said. “Mr Saunders was saying that all the facts are required in order to assess whether a criticism of Israel is genuinely anti-Zionist - the mentioning of the Ha’avara Agreement [an agreement between Nazis and Zionists which allowed some Jews to get out of Germany before World War Two, but which has subsequently been used by some, including Ken Livingstone, to claim that the Nazis were supporting Zionism] was merely to add context and point out the possible fallacies in Dr Hirsch’s presentation.

“After the talk, our class went into Mr Saunders’ classroom and spoke to him about the debate. He spoke about how loving a country is not blindly following them and accepting everything it does politically and on the world stage. He went on to emphasise that if you love a country then you should criticise it because that’s what shows a true love and respect for it; a desire for it to progress and succeed. Taking this into consideration, it is evident that Mr Saunders cannot be a so called ‘anti-Zionist’.”

The students also said that Mr Saunders, who is himself a graduate of JFS, is “a well-respected member of staff within JFS, in both the History and Politics departments. He is an ardent character, protecting his morals and providing a well-rounded perspective on an idea or topic is a corner-stone of his teaching style… he is, genuinely, one of the most engaging teachers that the school has”.

Another student of Mr Saunders who said he was at the event described Dr Hirsh talk as “very, very biased towards Israel. I don’t have a problem with that, I love Israel. But the only thing Mr Saunders was doing was adding contextual background, providing the other side of the argument”.

He said that in classes Mr Saunders “keeps all of his views to himself. He never lets us know his political opinion. He does act as devil’s advocate - he defends both sides equally every time we have an argument. It has nothing to do with Zionism or anti-Zionism, it’s just to teach about politics.

“Every single person who is taught by Mr Saunders would agree that he’s not an anti-Zionist. He doesn’t inflict his opinions upon us. All he does is provide us with both sides of the argument in every single argument possible.”

The JC understands that JFS is currently conducting an investigation of Mr Saunders’ remarks.

A spokesperson for the school said: “At JFS we provide a forum for students and staff to engage in high level debate about topical issues. We promote the ideals of free speech and expect our students and staff to respect and be tolerant of differing views and opinions. This includes a free exchange of ideas and giving students the ability and skill to draw their own conclusions about a wide array of issues.

"As a proudly Zionist school that is dedicated to promoting a love of Israel, discussions about the country form an integral part of our cross curricular provision. Our students are free thinkers with an eager curiosity to look beneath the PR/rhetoric and we support our student led societies in continuing to provide safe spaces for open debate.”