DAYS OF PALESTINE – LONDON
A UK-based Palestinian academic has said she was targeted by a “cyberbullying” campaign by pro-Israel social media accounts and outlets over her activism and advocacy of Palestinian issues.
The campaign follows Sheffield Hallam University PhD candidate Shahd Abusalama had been removed from taking up a teaching position at the university due to “outside pressure” on the university.
“The Zionist campaign of defamation continues a historical pattern, where the Zionist colonial narrative dominates and always enjoys privilege over the narratives of the oppressed,” Abusalama said.
Pro-Israel groups and media outlets ramped up pressure on Sheffield Hallam after Abusalama shared a tweet defending a student at the university who had made a poster saying: “Stop the Palestinian Holocaust”.
Those opposing Abusalama said that she contravened the university’s commitment to the international definition of anti-Semitism, which prohibits comparisons of Israel’s actions to that of Nazi Germany.
In her social media posts, Abusalama herself noted that she would not have used the word “Holocaust” as it “distracts attention from the Zionist practices of settler-colonialism and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians”.
The writer and academic urged supporters to call on the university to reverse its decision. She also rallied support from Jewish comrades, including former South African lawmaker Andew Feinstein, the son of a Holocaust survivor.
In a letter penned to the university in support of Abusalama, Feinstein described the academic as an important voice in the anti-racism movement and said he had never heard her say anything that could be construed as antisemitic.
“They are certainly angry at our successes as a global movement advocating the Palestinian cause, and they are targeting me to obstruct these achievements – to cover up the crimes of the occupation in Sheikh Jarrah, the Negev, Beita and Gaza.” Abusalama said.
Source: Al-Araby Al-Jadeed
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