Mick Hartley

More on that UCL blood libel case, from the JC:

University College London has banned an academic who told students a “story” that Jews murdered a priest and used his blood to make “pancakes” in what has been condemned as an “outrageously antisemitic lecture”.

In a lecture titled ‘The Birth of Zionism’, Dr Samar Maqusi – a former researcher at UCL’s School of Engineering and a former employee of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (Unrwa) – recounted the notorious Damascus Affair, when Jews were falsely accused of killing an Italian monk, Father Thomas.

A former employee of UNRWA. Makes sense.

In the lecture, Dr Maqusi launched into a series of extraordinary tirades – claiming Jews “controlled” the banks and alleging that Zionists have “controlled” all of the information around the history of Israel.

If this hadn’t been recorded, then we wouldn’t know about it – which leads to the question: how common is this kind of grade A antisemitism in these academic circles? As a Jewish attendee said, “The acceptance by my fellow students of antisemitic blood libels and conspiracy theories was a chilling moment”. I imagine it’s common enough for these students to nod along, as though it’s common talk in their pro-Palestine circles.

And such historical ignorance. This Samar Maqusi lives in a hate-filled fantasy world which bears little or no connection to actual history. How on earth did she get to her position, given her complete lack of any historical competence?

Her UCL page has been removed, but here she is at Exeter University’s Imagining futures:

Samar Maqusi is a Research Associate at PEARL, currently working in tandem with UCL’s RELIEF centre. Her work investigates modes of sociality and vitality in the camps, inside a burdened Lebanon, while drawing analysis and reflections on possible forms of livelihoods between the camp and the city.…

All this says much about the wretched state of academic discourse now. Good for UCL for reacting so quickly – but you get the feeling this is just the tip of the antisemitic iceberg.