In the Telegraph, Oxford professor Nigel Biggar laments the support of Oxford academics and staff for pro-Palestinian student protesters at the university. Here’s an excerpt:
Three hundred and one Oxford academics and staff have signed an online letter declaring their support of the students’ “entirely reasonable” demand that the university disinvest from “Israel’s genocide in Gaza”.
There’s no cause for panic. The signatories represent a fraction of the 15,000 professors, research staff, and doctoral students at Oxford. …
Yet, what should still dismay is that highly educated grown-ups in one of the world’s leading universities – some of them occupying very senior positions – have got their history, ethics and law so wrong. …
Before 1914 the land in Palestine on which Zionists settled had been purchased from Arab landlords. Moreover, many of the settlers were refugees from murderous pogroms in Russia. Naturally, Arab peasants who had worked the land for generations resented it when their tenancies weren’t renewed. The process was legal under Ottoman law.
In 1922, the League of Nations mandated Britain to administer Palestine, in order to build a new independent Arab state and a Jewish homeland out of the ruins of the irredeemable Ottoman Empire. In 1930, faced with violent Arab unrest, the British considered restricting Jewish immigration but decided against it out of sympathy for Jews fleeing Nazi Germany. When Britain unilaterally withdrew from Palestine in February 1947, Zionists occupied only 10% of Palestinian territory.
The main displacement of the Arab population happened after that, when invading Arab armies attempted to crush the infant State of Israel in 1948-9. This propelled 750,000 Arabs to flee, abandoning their land. Many were expelled. Yet, when Arab troops occupied Jerusalem, Jews too were forced out and about 900,000 more were driven from Arab countries, most seeking refuge in Israel. …
As for ethics, the… dreadful truth is that the prosecution of war invariably involves civilian casualties. And when there are sufficiently compelling reasons for fighting – say, self-defence against a manifestly genocidal Hamas – those casualties may be, tragically, justified. That’s why the laws of war don’t forbid the killing of non-combatants as such, but only their intentional and disproportionate killing: the objective must be a military one, and the harm done civilians incidental to the military purpose and no greater than necessary. …
On the matter of law, the International Court of Justice has not, as the Oxford signatories claim, judged the situation in Gaza as “plausibly amounting to genocide”. In paragraph 30 of its January 2024 ruling of the case brought by South Africa, the court made quite clear that it was “not required to ascertain whether any violations of Israel’s obligations under the Genocide Convention have occurred”.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: In the Spectator, Gareth Roberts isn’t shedding any tears over the U.K. university courses on race and colonialism that are facing the axe due to cuts.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
One intolerant bunch of fifth columnists at war with an even worse one.
Popcorn time.
Meanwhile, the rest of us coalesce around the punchy rallying cry –
“We don’t want any of this crap”.
The vast amount of Muslims are law-abiding and respectful, same as the vast amount of trans people. It’s the extremists who cause all of the problems. The Lefties and broken society, much enabled by the msm presstitutes, give the impression the small minority from both camps make up the majority, all because it serves their agenda for promoting hate and division, but it is nothing more than illusion and distraction. And regarding the Islamic faith, my main concern there is the amount of migrants being allowed into countries unchecked and the ramifications ( which is widely documented in countries such as Germany, UK, Sweden and France ) for our citizens as a result of this.
There won’t be any ‘law-abiding and respectful’ muslims, once a majority is achieved.
Well we deliberately avoided the more Muslim-dense neighbourhoods when we came to buy a house here. Nothing against what religion somebody wants to subscribe to, I don’t adhere to any of them personally, but on a scale you definitely have Islam at the ‘least tolerant’ end and, say, Buddhism at the most ‘peaceful’ opposite end. I don’t hear of many violent crimes and atrocities being committed in the name of Buddha.
Indeed.
I think ‘political ideology’ is a better description of Islam, than ‘religion’.
Yes I think so. It isn’t until I recently started reading more about it, after the stabbings in France by the Muslim migrant from Syria posing as a Christian, that I realised just how much I actually *should* be opposed to this particular ideology, especially as a freedom-loving female used to having all of my human rights respected. Their teachings in their holy book definitely don’t respect me or my values and so I would certainly not want to be bringing up my daughter in such a place where she’d be exposed to such racism and misogyny. The way they view females, so-called ”infidels” and ”idolaters” is horrific.
“The way they view females, so-called ”infidels” and ”idolaters” is horrific.”
It needed to be said Mogs.
Not sure the Tamils in Sri Lanka would necessarily endorse that view, the Buddhist majority have not quite been as tolerant as you might expect.
Ask the Rohinhya in western Myanmar, they’ll tell you about Buddhist extremists.
But I’m with you, most people are fine as long as they aren’t riled up by the nasty, mischievous minority.
And no doubt the Buddhists of western Myanmar will tell you about the Muslim extremists.
Or you could just combine the worst of both worlds ( that’d be Islam and gender ideology ) in the shape of most hated man in Britain, Sadiq Khan;
”OFFICIALS working for Sadiq Khan are banned from referring to “men and women” in the latest bid to go ultra-woke.
The Labour Mayor’s staff are also ordered not to describe any migrant as “illegal” – but call them people “with insecure immigration status” or simply “undocumented”.
City Hall’s inclusivity guide – leaked to the Sun – was last night dismissed as political correct “nonsense” by critics.
The gender section of the memo tells employees: “Avoid using ‘men and women’ – say ‘people’ or ‘Londoners’.
“Similarly, instead of ‘ladies and gentlemen’ say something that doesn’t exclude non-binary people.”
It says the terms male and female are “dated and medicalised” and that “female humans are called ‘girls and/or women’, male humans are called ‘boys and/or men’”.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/politics/22672251/sadiq-khans-staff-banned-men-women/
Have to laugh really.
One would have to have a heart of stone not to do so!
It’s really quite simple. Just organise to vote the current council out at your next opportunity.
Is she Polish or ‘American’? This prefixing of ‘American’ only emphasises differences. How many prefixes and qualifications are encouraged; at what point does it sound silly?
I think Morgan Freeman nailed it: I understand he sees the term African-American as an insult. He’s American and proud of it.
“We supported you when you were threatened”
Hope she carries the guilt of her naive gullibility to the grave.
So the Guardian thinks “residents watched in dismay”..while in reality Mr Hassan said
“I’m working for the people, what the majority of people like….….and I think there you have it in a nutshell…
Please explain how this is a ‘betrayal’…as former mayor Karen Majewski states. Are they banning Polish flags…..,?
they say a picture paints a thousand words..
https://twitter.com/dick_nalton/status/1668703870774640641
I don’t think they’ve banned the Pride (one of the seven deadly sins) flag. They’ve just said no to flying it on city buildings. I don’t suppose they fly Polish flags there either. I really hope they’re being consistent and only flying ‘Old Glory’
‘Pride goes before destruction…’.
The second that critical mass is reached, the goat-molesters will happily burn the stars and stripes.
…now fully Muslim..city council…
I think we’d have seen other headlines if members of the city council had burned the Stars and Stripes.
I know the Brits mock USAians for their flag fetish but there would have been outrage if city council workers had dropped the flag into the streets of Washington DC (drawing comparison with the film of workers dropping the Union flag onto the street in London).
When I was a lad in the Scouts we were taught how to package the Union flag before running it up the pole and breaking it so that it didn’t drape on the ground or tangle on the pole. On lowering the flag we were taught never to let it touch the ground. I had occasion to mention this to my grandchildren recently – they think I’m joking.
I hesitated about putting up the same picture of pre war Germany yesterday, glad you’ve linked to it because its what the vast majority are thinking, the resemblance is very worrying!
Nearly 20% of people in the UK are disabled or suffer mental illness, Where are their Flags??
You also know that the goat-molesters would be happy to burn the stars and stripes.
“There’s a sense of betrayal,” said the former Hamtramck mayor Karen Majewski, who is Polish American. “We supported you when you were threatened, and now our rights are threatened, and you’re the one doing the threatening.”
————
I guess this silly woman, and the other naive “liberals” who think like this have never looked at the beliefs and behaviour of many (not all) Muslims and the state of the countries they come from and thought “I wonder if they’d think and behave like that here and if they’d turn our country into a carbon copy of theirs if get the chance?”
Banning the Pride flag is one thing. Chucking gays off of high buildings is something else altogether. But both supported by many (not all) Muslims.
Islamophobic rhetoric that was a central theme of then Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign. Can you please elaborate on this with some examples.
I am surprised that conservative Muslims in this country are not kicking up a stink at some of the insidious garbage our children are being subjected to in schools. ——Or maybe they are and I just have not heard about it.
i don’t know why any flags other than official ones are displayed at public buildings and events. Allowing the “pride” flag could lead to demands from other groups for equal time – and maybe should. Just imagine the options… how about a pro life flag?
Multiculturalism.