The Facebook page above reads:
“THE UNIVERSITY HAVE RESTRICTED THE EVENT TO MIDDLESEX STUDENTS & STAFF ONLY…PLEASE EMAIL MIDDLESEX UNIVERSITY TO SEEK THEIR JUSTIFICATION FOR THIS UNPRECEDENTED RESTRICTION.”
The event was the Free Palestine Society’s The Case for Boycotting, Divesting, and Sanctions against Israel held last night. The speakers were Lauren Booth, John Rees and Asghar Bukari. The location was Middlesex University in Hendon, a highly Jewish populated suburb of London.
On her blog Booth quotes Gilad Atzmon’s anti-Semitic rhetoric extensively and tries to back him up. For example:
“No Jews do not run the world. They get others to do it for them.'”….This argument is not without example. In 2001 Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, made unguarded comments, about relations with the United States and the peace process.
“I know what America is,” he told a group of terror victims, apparently not knowing his words were being recorded. “America is a thing you can move very easily, move it in the right direction. They won’t get in their way.”
And she directly implicates British Jews in what she sees as Israel’s “crimes” when she writes:
What must also continue, freely and without hindrance are debates into the British Jewish communities role in funding the ethnic cleansing of the West Bank and East Jerusalem via such bodies as the Jewish National Fund.
Bukhari is the founder of the Muslim Public Affairs Committee. MPAC was banned from university campuses in 2004 after being branded anti-Semitic by the National Union of Students and Bukhari, himself, supported and financed Holocaust denier David Irving.
MPAC recently tweeted that Zionism equals Nazism.
Rees has, inter alia, reportedly identified with the Mahdi Army, a terror cell responsible for the deaths of thousands of Iraqis.
We did email Middlesex University to ask why concerned members of the public were banned, but the response bore no relation to the question. Middlesex University responded:
This is a Students’ Union supported society event which is open to students and staff at the University. As a University we have a responsibility to protect freedom of speech within the law and support the rights of our students to meet and discuss issues that matter to them. The University hosts a wide range of events, presenting many different views, and we would not seek to prevent them or influence the content unless there are very strong grounds to do so.
When I contacted Sam Spindlow, of Corporate Communications at Middlesex University and who was responsible for disseminating the statement, even he agreed that the statement did not explain why the public was banned, but said he could go no further than that.
The reality is that at a similar event at Middlesex University last year Ken O’Keefe compared Jews to Nazis, and Jenny Tonge said that “Israel won’t be here forever” for which she was chucked out of the Liberal Democrats.
Middlesex University’s new policy seems to be to allow hate speech to go virtually unopposed. Concerned members of the public are to be banned from anti-Israel events, although whether this policy is legal is open to question with Middlesex University being a taxpayer funded institution.
A few defiant members of Middlesex University’s Jewish Society did attend last night. One walked out in disgust at what was being said about Israel. She said that a pro-Israel question was asked during the Q&A but was dismissed by Lauren Booth as being “too Zionist a question to take seriously.” Another member of the Jewish Society handed out pro-Israel leaflets afterwards.
Jonathan Hoffman and I weren’t allowed in so we waited outside till the end and engaged in discussion with the students as they exited the room. We didn’t get very far though. We were told we were “child killers” and as I left a student shouted at me “Go back to Golders Green*.”
That kind of vile racism has now become the norm at anti-Israel events, but Middlesex University dangerously continues to look away.
*Golders Green is another highly Jewish populated suburb of London.
** Thanks to Stand For Peace for its research on Booth, Bukhari and Rees.
*** UPDATE: What happened behind Middlesex University’s closed doors by Jonathan Hoffman.
Jonathan Hoffman and security outside last night’s Free Palestine Society event at Middlesex University.
RichardMillett's Blog 
Hopefully the stoic students from the University’s Jewish Society will give more feedback.
Free Palestine, with every 5 litres of Shell.
No, seriously, this is very serious. Lauren Booth is a poisonous, evil liar who will stop at nothing to spread her vile anti-semitism. As for someone who funds David Irving and the words barrel,scrape and turned upside down come to mind…..
According to Middlesex University’s website, the institution “takes its social responsibilities seriously. We aim to uphold high standards in our dealings with our staff, students and in our communities.” (http://www.mdx.ac.uk/aboutus/mission/csr/index.aspx)
And what do they mean by Corporate Social Responsibility? “… always taking into account the welfare of our staff, students, partners and neighbours. It involves thinking of the University as a member of a community and shaping our way of doing things to ensure we are a good citizen.”
The university recognises that among the communities of which it is a member are “the local communities in the cities in which we have campuses in London, Dubai and Mauritius”. (http://www.mdx.ac.uk/aboutus/mission/csr/community/index.aspx)
It states that it “enjoys good relations with the London Borough of Barnet and has strong partnerships with schools, colleges and voluntary organisations in the Borough” and “[w]herever possible our facilities should be available to the local community.”
And the first objective of its Corporate Social Responsibility policy is:
“Objective 1: Understand the needs of the local community and respect the concerns of the wider community in all our operations.”
Please, someone, explain to me how it extending permission for its premises to be used to rabble rouse against Israel and Jews in the largest concentration of Jews in the UK ties in with its oh-so sensitive policies.
What ghastly people. And this is supposed to be an educational establishment?
Richard, I hope that those who read your blog and live in the area will act ! They could write to the local MP and the Secretary of State for Education a short email or letter. If they get a dozen people voicing their disgust at the University they might react and take this incitement to hatred seriously. .
amidst all that gloom something at least a wee bit nice
this winter I see Israeli Avocados and Grapefruit (and maybe on other exotic stuff which isn’t on my list) in almost every supermarket – this wasn’t so last year – up until now it was a very rare occurrence that I saw Israel on a label. And I looked for it – always!
Are there in fact any universities in London which have not hosted anti-Zionist events bordering on the antisemitic in the past few years?
There was Jews’ College, but they closed down.
Why bother with these fuckwits, especially the likes of Lauren Booth, this is dole-queue material
In the old days people would go to asylums on a sunday, with a picnic, and laugh at the lunatics:Now all they have to do is go to Hendon!
Lauren Booth:Oh yes, a woman who works for PRESS TV and is paid by the Iranian government,,,,,,,
This is very serious. When the academic world prohibits attendance of the part of the public who disagrees with the ‘activists’, one more step has been reached. What’s next? “Entry prohibited to Jews and dogs”?
I suspect dogs would be allowed.
God Bless you Jonathan Hoffman!
Remind the students of the 7/7/05 London transport bombings and who were the perpetrators.
Islamofascism has taken root in the UK.
Lauren Booth, Asghar Bukari, John Rees et al; opium for the ignorati.
What happened inside Middlesex University’s Closed Doors … some of the things that were said at the meeting …
http://www.thejc.com/blogs/jonathan-hoffman/what-happened-inside-middlesex-universitys-closed-doors
Looks like the past trolls of the JC are still there. Curious that they seem to have left from here suddenly. Maybe the terrain became unfruitful at some point.
You deserve a knighthood for your hard work in exposing the lies and untruths spread by these vile people thank you and please do not give up
I am not familiar with the other names listed but Gilad Atzmon is a hero and a treasure. He lifts the veil on the abominable treatment of the Palestinians by the Israelis. Silence equals assent. Those who are silent about crimes of the occupation have blood on their hands as well.
Atzmon, an avowed antisemite, is the hero only of other antisemites. The “abominable treatment” is administered by the elected Hamas to the docile ‘Palestinians’. It includes brainwashing their own people like you were and converting them into racist criminals.
Your silence on these awful crimes equals assent. You are therefore a terrorist supporter. Why am I not surprised?
So they us this tactic in the USA as well. http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/02/12/exclusive-audio-reveals-brooklyn-college-misled-public-on-eviction-of-jewish-students-from-bds-event-audio/?cb=07691051964648068
Did they check student/employee cards – or was this a matter of trust?
they checked student and staff cards. it was very strict. doesn’t make it right though.
So gatekeeping is more important than actually posting an opposing view.
Why am I not surprised?