30 August 2024

James Dickins, a distinguished specialist in Arabic and long-time advocate of Palestinian human rights who recently retired from the faculty of Leeds University, has been targeted by pro-Israel students who concocted a largely fact-free story that he promoted an assault on the Hillel building at the University and called for him to be made persona non grata. This is all too reminiscent of attacks on Professor David Miller of Bristol University and numerous other academics in the UK and US, and one might hope that by now highly paid university managers would recognise these student complaints for the unethical and politically motivated actions that they are. Regrettably, the Leeds managers appear to have been taken in by the students and, ignoring Dickins’ major contribution to the University over many years, they announced their intention to remove his emeritus status before allowing him the opportunity to challenge the claims made against him. For further details, see the News entries of 16 and 18 July and 21 August 2024 on this website.

Ben Jamal, the national Palestine Solidarity Campaign director, has written the letter reprinted below to the VC of Leeds University strongly protesting its threatened action against Professor Dickins.

Dear Professor Hai-Sui Yu,

I am writing to you as Director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) to express my deep concerns at the wholly illegitimate recommendation from a University of Leeds investigation to revoke Professor James Dickins’ emeritus status, which if enacted would remove him from membership of the University of Leeds.

Professor Dickins is a distinguished scholar and advocate for Palestinian rights. He is a respected member and role-holder in the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES), the largest academic association in Europe focused on the study of the Middle East and North Africa, including notably as a member of its Committee on Academic Freedom.

PSC understands that this arises following accusations that Professor Dickins encouraged a protest on campus against the appearance of an Israeli rapper, who was sponsored by StandWithUS (SWU). The protest, which PSC understands did not proceed, would have been a legitimate challenge to SWU, an organisation that receives funding from the Israeli government to undertake propaganda exercises for Israel whose actions in the Gaza Strip have been recognised by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as a plausible case of genocide. The ICJ has also ruled that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip is unlawful, and that Israel’s actions violate the international prohibition on racial segregation and apartheid.

From the information presented, your extraordinary treatment of Professor Dickins not only highlights an absence of due process, but sends out a message that Palestinian staff and students and those who advocate for Palestinian human rights will be automatically targeted for calling out complicity in Israel’s war crimes, and cannot expect fair treatment at the University of Leeds.

As research produced by BRISMES and the European Legal Support Centre (ELSC) highlighted last year, the misuse of university disciplinary processes to target Palestinians and pro-Palestinian voices has produced a chilling effect on campuses, leading staff and students  to self-censor (https://www.brismes.ac.uk/files/documents/brismes-elsc-joint-report-ihra.pdf; https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1323238X.2024.2385504). The unjust proposal to remove Professor Dickins’ emeritus status will further contribute to this climate where Palestinian and pro-Palestinian students and academics fear being singled out and subjected to discriminatory restrictions on their speech, research, and university activity, which is inconsistent with the obligation universities have under both the Human Rights and Equality Acts.

The University of Leeds should be speaking up for human rights and international law, not seeking to silence those who do. PSC calls on the University of Leeds to rescind any proposal to revoke Professor Dickins’ emeritus status immediately.

Please copy this letter to all the members of the University of Leeds Council.

Yours sincerely,

Ben Jamal, Director, Palestine Solidarity Campaign