A letter in support of David Feldman and the Pears Institute
JVL Introduction
That the Jewish Chronicle should be contemptuous of intellectual thinking it disagrees with has long been the norm.
So, when it publishes an editorial headed “Campus respect” it comes as no surprise that it is an exercise in disrespecting Prof David Feldman, Director of the Pears Institute for the Study on Antisemitism.
More disturbingly, two associate members of the Pears Institute, in a vindictive act of academic vandalism, used the pages of the Jewish Chronicle to accuse their Director of not taking antisemitism seriously and of “encouraging those who denigrate Jews”.
Here 28 British-based senior scholars of Jewish/non-Jewish relations firmly repudiate these accusations and express their admiration for Prof Feldman’s work in a letter to the Jewish Chronicle.
This article was originally published by JewTh!nk on Wed 23 Dec 2020. Read the original here.
A letter in support of Professor David Feldman and the Pears Institute for the Study of Antisemitism
While JewThink has no editorial ‘line’, it exists to be a platform for debate and discussion within and outside the UK Jewish community. We were approached by the organisers of the following jointly-signed letter that was published in the Jewish Chronicle on 23 December 2020. They wished to ensure that the letter was more visible online. They have also included preliminary contextual information and a full list of signatories. JewThink is happy to provide this platform and would be equally happy, in principle, to provide a platform for those holding different views.
Loading article text…
Well that’s an august and ringing endorsement of Professor Feldman’s widely supported view, if ever there was one, and by implication telling the Zionist Chronicle, Spencer and Rich where they can stick their simplistic intellectually sclerotic knee jerk nonsense. Bravo!
I am an amateur in politics but I can’t help thinking that Dave Rich and Philip Spencer attacked David Feldman because Feldman perhaps may not be strongly anti-left. I do not know about Feldman’s political leanings but I do know that Rich and Spencer were very diligent in suggesting Jeremy Corbyn’s antisemitism a few years ago. I witnessed veiled attacks by Philip Spencer in the Wiener Library in 2017.
Follow the link to the JC’s leader “Campus respect” and you find this:
… the growing success in securing the adoption of IHRA in response makes it all the more shocking that the director of Britain’s only academic centre devoted to the study of antisemitism seems to be doing his best to stop this … Given his role in the shameful Chakrabarti report into Labour antisemitism, his views deserve little respect …
What are David Feldman’s “views”, that deserve so “little respect”? The leader won’t tell you. Not a peep. Not even the most distorted and poisonous account. Nada.
There is something particularly arrogant, shameful and menacing about a leader that argues “this is true simply because we say it is”
So the witch-hunt proceeds from attacking a political party to attacking a respected institute within a respected university. I think this shift in target is both very worrying and very significant.
Here we go again. Another critic of the IHRA definition of antisemitism vilified by the pro Israeli lobby. They are so “obsessed” with Israel that they want to cancel free speech and academic freedom on our campuses. Despite opposition from the UCU too many universities have capitulated to government threats to withdraw funding if they refuse to adopt this disingenuous definition. It’s time to resist this McCartyism!