A university has ramped up its security after posters branding an Israeli academic a ‘terrorist’ were scattered around campus by pro-Palestine students.
Students at City University have demanded Michael Ben-Gad be sacked for serving in the Israel Defence Forces from 1982 to 1985.
Last week, a petition was launched calling for Professor Ben-Gad, who teaches economics, to be fired ‘immediately’ and leaflets distributed calling him a ‘terrorist’.
City Action for Palestine is also demanding an apology to the community and for the university ‘to consider such fundamental matters when hiring in the future.
The group added: ‘Shame on City for … allowing a terrorist to be near and teach Arab and Muslim students despite being an active participant in murdering their people.’
But the defiant Professor told the Daily Mail he is an ‘unapologetic Israeli patriot and no one is going to intimidate me’.
Distributed leaflets plaster the economics professor’s face beneath the capitalised word ‘terrorist’ on a blood-stained background alongside the slogan ‘shame on City University’
Footage from last week shows protesters take over the hallways chanting ‘sack him now’ as they don keffiyehs – traditional Arab attire that has come to be associated with the Palestinian cause
Professor Ben-Gad told the Daily Mail: ‘If the objective of the demonstration was to frighten or intimidate me, frankly they will have to try a lot harder than printing up a flyer, launching an Instagram campaign or a small demonstration.
‘I lectured this week as usual while all this was beginning and plan to do so next week as well. I am indeed as they claim an IDF veteran and I plan to act like one – these modern brown shirts are not going to send me into hiding.
‘I am a classical liberal. Students have a right to express their opinions even if personally, I find those views abhorrent. That even includes the production of inflammatory pamphlets about me.
‘However, they do not have a right to disrupt, harass, threaten or physically intimidate and today they crossed a very bright red line.
‘My only concern and the concern of the university management is that others, potentially more vulnerable than me, i.e. Jewish students are protected.
‘I have enjoyed the full support of the President, Prof Sir Anthony Finkelstein and the entire senior management team of the university. Anthony and I are both the sons of Holocaust survivors and understand completely the true nature of this campaign.
‘I should add that I have also received plenty of support from dear colleagues of all faiths and backgrounds.
‘They picked the wrong professor at the wrong university.
One poster distributed by protesters recounted his employment history – with his ‘six years working in a genocidal society’ as a lecturer at the University of Haifa and his three years service in the Israel Defense Forces proving particular points of concern
The group says: ‘In Palestine, Zionists expanded illegal settlements, imposed curfews, and arrested activists’
‘The launch of the campaign coincided with the start of the ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages.
‘Clearly these hate groups need a new cause. I may have been specifically targeted because of my role in campaigning for academic freedom which seems to trigger a rather disparate variety of extremists.
‘I am an unapologetic Israeli patriot and no one is going to intimidate me.
‘At the same time, I am deeply grateful to this wonderful country for all the opportunities it has afforded me.
‘Remember these people hate Britain, for its unique tradition of civility, its freedom and its tolerance, as much as they hate Israel and Jews.’
Professor Ben-Gad has worked at the British university since 2008, serving as head of department from 2010 to 2013.
One poster distributed by protesters recounted his employment history – with his ‘six years working in a genocidal society’ as a lecturer at the University of Haifa and his three years service in the Israel Defense Forces proving particular points of concern.
The group also highlights his role working as an economist at the Bank of Israel between 1987 and 1989.
The group concludes ‘shame’ on City for: ‘Allowing a terrorist to be near & teach Arab & Muslim students, despite being an active participant in murdering their people’
The State of Israel requires every Jewish, Druze or Circassian male citizen over the age of 18 to serve a minimum of 32 months in its armed forces – with women expected to serve for a minimum of 24 months.
A petition circulated by City Action for Palestine online reads: ‘The war crimes the Zionist Occupation’s army have committed are not secret, they have been broadcasted during the escalation in the Genocide in the last 2 years.
‘The IOF (a term used by some activists in place of IDF, meaning ‘Israel Occupying Forces’) has been terrorising the Palestinians and Lebanese for over 77 years now.
‘Therefore, our students will not rest as long as this terrorist, complicit in war crimes and the murder of our brothers and sisters in Lebanon and Palestine walk freely in our institution.’
The campaign against Prof Ben-Gad is said to have been launched after the Gaza ceasefire deal.
Hundreds of academics have since come to the defence of Prof Ben-Gad online against ‘what appears to be a small, if very vocal, group’.
A statement signed by professors and tutors from institutions ranging from Imperial College London to the University of Oxford reads: ‘We, the undersigned, are deeply concerned by a targeted harassment campaign against Michael Ben-Gad, Professor of Economics at City St George’s, University of London, led by a group calling themselves.
‘Regardless of diverse views on the recent Gaza war and the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we deplore any campaign that seeks to intimidate and drive out lecturers because they are Israeli, Jewish, or members of any other group.
Some academics have taken to X to voice their opposition to the hounding of Prof Ben-Gad (pictured)
‘We are immensely grateful to hear of the strong support given by the President and Senior Leadership Team to the Professor in question, and we wish to register our equal support.
‘Academics and students have a right to go about their work at any university without facing harassment.
‘Attacks of this kind are intimidating, particularly to Jewish students, and set a precedent under which others could be targeted in future.
‘We wish to make clear to what appears to be a small, if very vocal, group that their mobbing tactics will not succeed.
‘We stand together in support of Professor Ben-Gad and his personal and intellectual freedom as an academic.’
Some academics have taken to X to voice their opposition to the hounding of Prof Ben-Gad.
Professor Alice Sullivan, who teaches Sociology at UCL, said: ‘Solidarity with Michael Ben-Gad, Professor of Economics at City University.
‘Students are demanding his sacking simply because he is an Israeli Jew who has done (mandatory) military service.
‘The antisemitic harassment he is being subjected to is horrifying. I hesitate to amplify it, but British academics need to understand what is happening.’
Abhishek Saha, a professor of Maths at Queen Mary’s University London said: ‘This is vile, targeted harassment on the basis of national origin and religion.’
And the historian Niall Ferguson said: ‘Professor Michael Ben-Gad is being treated disgracefully. Students who behave in this repulsively intolerant fashion need to face discipline.’
City St George’s University was approached for comment.
