16 July 2024

The Rabbi, the rapper and the ‘demeritus’ professor: Shadows of Israel’s brutal war on Gaza at the University of Leeds (UK)

Once again, activists in the British Union of Jewish Students (UJS), encouraged by other pro-Israel elements, have targeted a professor known for his support for Palestinian human rights, with the aim of having him excluded from membership of his university.  A few years ago, UJS activists at Bristol University, with outside support, successfully pressured University management quite unfairly to fire David Miller, a professor of sociology whose research exposed the networks of pro-Israel influence in Britain.[1] The British Society for Middle Eastern Studies, together with the European Legal Support Center have documented 20 cases in which false antisemitism allegations were brought against academics at different universities: on examination every one of these allegations was shown to be false.[2] This time the target is James Dickins, Emeritus Professor of Arabic at Leeds University. Dickins retired in September 2023, so the objective of the campaign against him has been to strip him of his ‘emeritus’ title, which affords him membership of the University community. The pro-Israel students leading the attack have chosen an obvious target, for Dickins has long been a prominent member of the city of Leeds Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and supporter of the University of Leeds Palestine Solidarity Group (PSG). However, in their eagerness to destroy Dickins’ reputation, the students have apparently levelled false and indeed foolish accusations against him. One might imagine that the University management would swiftly draw a line under this tawdry saga. But disturbingly, as in otherr cases, Leeds management have ignored the obvious inaccuracies and are actively pursuing Dickins.

In November 2023 Zecharia Deutsch, an Israeli citizen and the chaplain to Jewish students at Leeds and other universities in the region, took leave from his chaplaincy to serve in the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), and took part in what the Israeli  assault on Gaza, where the International Court of  Justice has concluded it is “plausible that Israel’s acts could amount to genocide”.[3] While in Israel – or Gaza – Deutsch wrote on social media about the IDF’s deeply moral cause, and in February 2024 he returned to Leeds to resume his pastoral role.[4] Many members of the Leeds University community were outraged that a man who had endorsed and possibly participated in the Gaza assault, which by then had killed at least 25,000 Palestinians, should be tolerated on campus. On 8 February, Hillel House, the Jewish chaplaincy centre at Leeds was daubed with two slogans “Free Palestine” and “IDF off campus” – clearly a reference to Deutsch. It is not known if the perpetrator or perpetrators belonged to the University community. Deutsch is a member of a religious group called Ohr Torah Stone, which can reasonably be described as extremist – as discussed in this article.

Four days later, the online Jewish News reported Emma Levy, President of Leeds Universities Jewish Society (JSoc), as saying that “her main priority was ensuring the university cut ties with James Dickins, the emeritus professor of Arabic, who leaked the address of Hillel [House] and encouraged pro-Palestinian activists to protest against the appearance of an Israeli rapper on campus. Dickins is also chair of the Leeds branch of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign”. In support of these claims, the newspaper printed a screenshot of a WhatsApp message that Dickins forwarded on 2 February from one pro-Palestine group to another in Leeds.[5] The screenshot included Dickins’ personal telephone number which, one imagines, Jewish News must have known was an illegal intrusion into his private life, though it only removed it following a complaint via Leeds University.

The Jewish News article was a farrago of half-truths and innuendo. Dickins had indeed “encouraged pro-Palestinian activists to protest against the appearance of an Israeli rapper on campus.” But this was no ordinary rapper. As the article failed to mention, the person concerned, Noah Shufutinsky, was sponsored by StandWithUs (SWU), a Zionist organization well known for its extremism which Shufutinsky himself may belong to.[6] SWU is virulently hostile even to more moderate Zionist organisations. In October 2009, for example, SWU campaigned against a conference organized by the Jewish Zionist group J Street, denouncing its members as “Jewish Stalinists”, terrorist sympathizers, and “the surrender lobby”. J Street’s president Jeremy Ben-Ami responded that SWU was engaged in “thuggish smear tactics”.[7] In November 2010, “SWU activists disrupted a local Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) meeting in Berkeley. They heckled the speakers and prevented the meeting from taking place. One activist pepper-sprayed two JVP members”.[8] In 2022, SWU made spurious allegations of ‘antisemitism’ against American-Palestinian academic, Lara Sheehi.[9]

Given the extreme nature of StandWithUs (SWU), Shufutinsky’s sponsor, Leeds pro-Palestinian activists decided to signal their objection to his appearance on campus. But what Dickins had in mind was a joint letter to the University from activist groups. In the event they took no action; Israel’s ongoing mass slaughter in Gaza presented a more pressing issue to address.

Jewish News’ decision to publish without comment Levy’s claim that Dickins “leaked the address of Hillel [House]” would have been merely laughable had it not implied an intention to do it harm. Laughable because the address was no secret: anyone who did not know it already could find it in seconds through the Leeds University website or by a simple Google search.[10] Nevertheless, sinister because Levy and Jewish News probably sought to associate Dickins with the recent defacing of the building which Leeds police were treating as a possible hate crime.

For Dickins himself, the adverse publicity had immediate consequences. He received abusive and threatening emails, as well as calls on his private phone, which he sensibly decided not to answer,poured in. On 24 February, before a pro-Palestine march in Leeds city centre, Dickins was accosted by a man who repeated the false allegation that he had leaked the Hillel House address and behaved menacingly until the police directly intervened. Two days later, following a vigil on campus to signal Israel’s “educide” of Gaza (killing its educators and destroying its educational infrastructure), Dickins was accosted by the same man and another who came straight from an “antisemitism” demonstration organised by the University Jewish Society (JSoc), just around the corner. They repeated the false claim that Dickins had leaked the address of Hillel House and behaved threateningly until the police again intervened. Since then, Dickins has faced similar ugly incidents.

Despite the emptiness of the public accusations against Dickins, Leeds University management on 3 March wrote to him alleging that through his social media posting on 7 February 2026 (sic), he had encouraged individuals to protest at Hillel House, and had thus caused risk to both the property and the safety of the people there. This was both bizarre and sinister: bizarre to face an accusation dated 2026, two years in the future; sinister because his relevant social media posts were on the 2nd, not the 7th, of February, an error which invites speculation it was intended to associate him with the defacing of Hillel House the following day, Feb. 8. As to causing risk to Hillel House, no such charge could plausibly be made since Dickins and his pro-Palestinian associates had in mind only a written protest against the appearance of the rapper Shufutinsky and in the event made no protest of any kind, whereas the defacing of Hillel House was clearly undertaken by one or more individuals whose animus was directed against the return of the IDF’s Rabbi Deutsch.

For months Dickins endured abuse, harassment and threats, despite efforts by the police and legal support to stem it. Meanwhile, however, the University management faced official and unofficial pressure to pursue its charges. In February, John Mann, the government’s unfortunately named “antisemitism tsar”, demanded that Leeds University summarily expel all students expressing antisemitism – which by the official definition can be taken to include criticism of Israel.[11] In May, Secretary of State for Education Gillian Keegan called on all vice-chancellors to protect Jewish students by adopting “a zero-tolerance approach to anti-semitic abuse”.[12] In June the University management informed Dickins it intended to revoke his emeritus status, thus removing him as a member of the University community. Dickins is not prepared merely to acquiesce in this gratuitous insult to his reputation and, if necessary, will seek formal redress. One can only applaud his resilience. That he and his associates have been seeking to draw attention to Israel’s plausible genocide against the Palestinians of Gaza, whereas most if not all his attackers are defending the perpetrators of genocide is an irony almost too perverse for words.

[1] UK judge rules in favour of university professor sacked for anti-Zionist views | Middle East Eye

[2] https://www.brismes.ac.uk/news/press-release-new-report-highlights-major-free-speech-issues-in-uk-universities

[3] https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/01/gaza-icj-ruling-offers-hope-protection-civilians-enduring-apocalyptic

[4] Israel-Palestine war: Leeds students call on Jewish chaplain fighting for Israel to resign | Middle East Eye

[5] After threats of legal action, Jewish News removed all reference to Dickins in its 12 February 2024 report: Leeds Uni promises action after urgent talks between vice-chancellor and Jewish groups – Jewish News

[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StandWithUs

[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StandWithUs

[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StandWithUs

[9] https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/standwithus-fails-silence-scholar; https://electronicintifada.net/tags/lara-sheehi

[10]. A Google search brings up: https://www.ujs.org.uk/leeds#:~:text=Approx%20Jewish%20Students%20on%20campus%20%2D%201000%2B&text=With%20a%20vibrant%20student%20community,chill%2C%20hang%20out%20and%20study. A search via the University website yields: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.leeds.ac.uk/download/8/campus_map&ved=2ahUKEwjm7b7z_bSEAxWbVUEAHc6BAEAQFnoECFcQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0ULBZd4VgluxhN-Xmnv33K,

[11] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/17/kick-out-students-anti-semitic-incidents-government-tsar/

[12]. Prime Minister to call on university leaders to protect Jewish students – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)