Students and academic staff face purity test over views on Gaza, professor warns

“There is now an atmosphere where academics are expected to hold certain views, including believing that Israel is committing genocide. This has become a consensus, and any deviation can leave an academic isolated and affect their ability to get a job.”

Last October, Ben-Gad was targeted by a campaign from a group calling itself City Action for Palestine, which demanded his removal from campus because of his past service in the Israel Defence Forces and his academic qualifications from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The group created posters featuring Ben-Gad and chanted “Zionists off campus”. Masked members of the campaign stormed one of Ben-Gad’s classes, branding him a “terrorist” and one allegedly threatened to behead the academic. Ben-Gad told the JC event that he did not miss a single lecture or class as a result of the campaign. An open letter in support of Ben-Gad was signed by more than 1,600 academics.

The professor said that university should not be about “safety” but added that while one student could walk through campus with a Palestinian flag, another carrying an Israeli flag would feel quite different. An outspoken critic of decolonising the curriculum and EDI (equality, diversity and inclusion), the professor said universities had become “all about feelings”.

“EDI is an attempt to police academic activity,” he said. “Jews do not need special treatment. We thrive when standards are objective and not manipulated.”

Also speaking at the event was Louis Danker, president of the Union of Jewish Students (UJS), who said there were “troubles in academia”, but pushed back against Ben-Gad’s critique of EDI.

“I am a pragmatist by nature,” Danker said. “EDI is the prevailing approach to supporting minority groups on campus.”

He added that universities which had dealt best with antisemitism were often those that treated it with the same seriousness as other EDI issues. “They see Jews as counting,” he said.

However, Danker acknowledged that “there is an issue with antisemitism not being treated like other forms of racism and discrimination” at some universities. He said the most “pernicious” problem Jewish students currently faced was social ostracisation.

“Students in accommodation blocks have been forced out, told, ‘If you have a connection to Israel or the Zionist entity or regime, you’re not welcome in this flat,’” he said.

“There are students who have had ‘f Jews’ daubed on their doors. Jewish students have been followed home by people shouting ‘Free Palestine’ at them just because they are wearing kippot.”

Despite this, Danker said UJS had seen “a return to Jewish student agency”. This year has seen the organisation reclaim the narrative of Jewish life on campus.

“Jewish students are defining what it is to be Jewish on campus, rather than letting it be defined by other people,” Danker said.

He pointed to national sports tournaments, events for Chagim, club nights and UJS’s annual conference as evidence of widespread participation.

“The engagement in our work has never been higher,” said Danker, who was elected on the highest-ever turnout for the organisation.

This week will see the national Jewish student body host over 40 events  aimed at bringing non-Jews to Jewish events as part of “Jewish Experience Week”.

Danker also said relations between Jews and Muslims on campus signalled “hope”. He said: “JSoc and Isoc [Islamic Student Society] football teams play each other all the time, and they have a brilliant time. We need to amplify and platform this to the wider world.”