February 19, 2025
Imran Mulla
Dibyesh Anand and Nitasha Kaul, academics at the University of Westminster, defended their decision to speak at a conference organised by Tel Aviv University
Imran Mulla
Dibyesh Anand and Nitasha Kaul, academics at the University of Westminster, defended their decision to speak at a conference organised by Tel Aviv University
Israeli soldiers detain a youth in Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on 19 February (AFP)
A row has erupted at London's University of Westminster after two senior academics gave keynote speeches at a conference organised by an Israeli university that closely collaborated with the Israeli military in its war on Gaza.
In November 2024 Dibyesh Anand and Nitasha Kaul, professors in Politics and International Relations, addressed a conference at Tel Aviv University.
The institution is heavily involved in arms research and collaborates with Israeli arms manufacturers and the Israeli military.
It also hosts the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), a think tank close to the Israeli military establishment which has helped define the state’s military philosophy when it comes to Palestinians and neighbouring Arab states.
In particular, the INSS helped develop the notorious Dahiya doctrine, which encourages the destruction of civilian infrastructure as a supposed deterrence to groups taking up arms against Israel.
In December, it emerged that Tel Aviv University was running an "engineering war room" developing technology for the Israeli army including a live-streaming facility for a dog-mounted camera used by a canine unit linked to deadly attacks on Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
Last July, MEE reported on the death of Muhammad Bhar, a 24-year-old man with severe Down’s syndrome, who was left to die by Israeli soldiers after being mauled by army dogs in his family home in eastern Gaza City.
The university's venture capital firm has also invested in Israeli technology firm Xtend, which has produced small drones used by Israeli forces in Gaza.
Calls for international isolation
In early February, the University of Westminster's branch of the University and College Union (UCU), representing academic and support staff, issued a statement denouncing the professors for speaking at the conference, which was on the topic of democracy and authoritarianism.
Both academics have also faced widespread attacks on social media in the past week.
But Anand and Kaul both strongly defended their decisions to speak at the conference in comments to Middle East Eye, saying they oppose the idea that they should boycott Israeli universities.
In early February, the UCU Westminster statement expressed "horror" at the actions of the professors, citing Tel Aviv University's close ties with the Israeli military.
The union further endorsed a November 2023 declaration by the heads of 15 Palestinian universities that "Israeli universities, complicit in human rights violations, should face international isolation".
Last week, a student group at the university called Friends of Palestine issued a statement saying "Professor Anand chose to speak at a university" in which "genocidal practices are designed".
Nitasha Kaul delivered her lecture to the conference remotely on the topic of "Misogyny, Authoritarianism, and the Future of Democracy". She did not mention Gaza in the talk.
Kaul, a prominent academic, is particularly well-known for her work that is critical of the Indian government, especially regarding its policies in Indian-occupied Kashmir.
Last year, the Indian government blocked her from entering India over her views on Kashmir in a widely publicised incident that provoked condemnation from Indian opposition leaders.
"I will not refuse engagement with critical academics anywhere and those academics who are trapped and under duress are precisely the voices that can eventually make any progress happen in any entrenched conflict," Kaul said in a Facebook post last week.
She added that it was "staggering to see some far-Left academics circulate entire petitions on Palestine in the earliest days of October 2023 without even a token reference to October 7th Hamas attack or the fate of the hostages".
Many have suggested Tel Aviv University has played an important role in supporting the Israeli military establishment over the past several years.
In 2020, the university launched an initiative called the “Erez” programme which allowed trainee army officers to study for degrees in humanities and social science subjects.
The programme prompted complaints about militarisation in education from student groups, especially those representing Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Some Palestinian students at the university told MEE they felt increasingly isolated on campus.
“I walk through the university knowing some of my fellow students are taking part in war rooms, designing more efficient methods to carry out the genocide in Gaza,” said one student, on condition of anonymity.
'Number one enemies'
Like Kaul, Anand also delivered his address to the conference remotely. His talk, which was on the "Politics of Fear in Majoritarian Regimes", criticised a range of governments - including Benjamin Netanyahu's - as authoritarian.
"Any criticism of Israeli government is branded as antisemitism," he noted, adding that for the government, "the ultimate enemy is Israeli democracy".
Addressing the Israeli academics in the audience, he said: "For Netanyahu and his supporters, possibly many of you are number one enemies, not even Palestinians."
He praised the welcome address to the conference delivered by Ariel Porat, the president of Tel Aviv University, saying: "I really can't imagine a president or a vice-chancellor of an Indian university or Chinese university or Turkish university these days... ever making those kind of statements."
Porat's speech had addressed what he presented as threats to Israeli democracy and criticised the Netanyahu government - but did not mention Palestinians or the war on Gaza, which was ongoing at the time.
At another point in the talk Anand asserted that among British leftists "hardly anyone talks about Turkey in the way they talk about Israel", because "there's an exceptionalisation of Israel as a problematic entity, and that is antisemitic."
Anand told MEE: "As a professor of International Relations with decades of work on postcolonialism, nationalism, and human rights in various parts of the world, it is important that I exercise my academic freedom to share ideas with other academics."
He added: "I am comfortable with using my research to critique dehumanising practices of states as well as non-state extremists, and in this case, with speaking at a conference on democracy and authoritarianism and engaging with rather than boycotting Israeli Jewish academics.
"As an educationist, I respect the rights of those with different views within law and would expect them to extend the same courtesy to me."
Kaul told MEE: "Bullying, slandering, and harassing academics is an utterly unacceptable targeting of critical scholarship that aims at silencing disagreement on contentious issues and it undermines the basic principles of academic freedom. This is what I am experiencing online."
She also criticised the UCU's statement, saying: "I do not think an educator ought to have views where they go about behaving in this way towards anyone who disagrees with their exact view and their exact actions. As an educator, it is vital to respect different points of view without attributing differences to ill intentions or moral vacuity."
Kaul added: "I would find it very difficult to respect someone who feels that their own personal political beliefs are the only right ones in any complex entrenched conflict, and their own manner of advocating them is the only right way, and uses this to sanctimoniously decry other people and accuse them of being propagandists.
"Doctrinaire views and fundamentalism are only helpful for moral grandstanding and claims of purity, while leading to in-fighting, and are never helpful to intellectual dialogue or to advancing any political cause, no matter how worthy.
"Protest for justice takes many forms, and the academic work of ideas and meaning-making that feeds into action is as important as any other form of action."
A spokesperson from the University of Westminster said it was a "diverse and inclusive institution committed to upholding the principles of academic freedom and freedom of speech.
"Work to support the global academic community, in which Professor Anand is closely involved, has included the creation of sanctuary scholarships for students from conflict regions including Gaza, funding to support a Gazan research fellow, and engagement with other higher education institutions on the reconstruction of Gaza and community cohesion in the UK.
"Work to support all students and colleagues at Westminster has included, for example, hosting events celebrating global cultural festivals, as well as creating spaces for students and colleagues to host discussions, conversations, fundraisers, rallies and vigils."
In November 2024 Dibyesh Anand and Nitasha Kaul, professors in Politics and International Relations, addressed a conference at Tel Aviv University.
The institution is heavily involved in arms research and collaborates with Israeli arms manufacturers and the Israeli military.
It also hosts the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), a think tank close to the Israeli military establishment which has helped define the state’s military philosophy when it comes to Palestinians and neighbouring Arab states.
In particular, the INSS helped develop the notorious Dahiya doctrine, which encourages the destruction of civilian infrastructure as a supposed deterrence to groups taking up arms against Israel.
In December, it emerged that Tel Aviv University was running an "engineering war room" developing technology for the Israeli army including a live-streaming facility for a dog-mounted camera used by a canine unit linked to deadly attacks on Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
Last July, MEE reported on the death of Muhammad Bhar, a 24-year-old man with severe Down’s syndrome, who was left to die by Israeli soldiers after being mauled by army dogs in his family home in eastern Gaza City.
The university's venture capital firm has also invested in Israeli technology firm Xtend, which has produced small drones used by Israeli forces in Gaza.
Calls for international isolation
In early February, the University of Westminster's branch of the University and College Union (UCU), representing academic and support staff, issued a statement denouncing the professors for speaking at the conference, which was on the topic of democracy and authoritarianism.
Both academics have also faced widespread attacks on social media in the past week.
But Anand and Kaul both strongly defended their decisions to speak at the conference in comments to Middle East Eye, saying they oppose the idea that they should boycott Israeli universities.
In early February, the UCU Westminster statement expressed "horror" at the actions of the professors, citing Tel Aviv University's close ties with the Israeli military.
The union further endorsed a November 2023 declaration by the heads of 15 Palestinian universities that "Israeli universities, complicit in human rights violations, should face international isolation".
Last week, a student group at the university called Friends of Palestine issued a statement saying "Professor Anand chose to speak at a university" in which "genocidal practices are designed".
Nitasha Kaul delivered her lecture to the conference remotely on the topic of "Misogyny, Authoritarianism, and the Future of Democracy". She did not mention Gaza in the talk.
Kaul, a prominent academic, is particularly well-known for her work that is critical of the Indian government, especially regarding its policies in Indian-occupied Kashmir.
Last year, the Indian government blocked her from entering India over her views on Kashmir in a widely publicised incident that provoked condemnation from Indian opposition leaders.
"I will not refuse engagement with critical academics anywhere and those academics who are trapped and under duress are precisely the voices that can eventually make any progress happen in any entrenched conflict," Kaul said in a Facebook post last week.
She added that it was "staggering to see some far-Left academics circulate entire petitions on Palestine in the earliest days of October 2023 without even a token reference to October 7th Hamas attack or the fate of the hostages".
Many have suggested Tel Aviv University has played an important role in supporting the Israeli military establishment over the past several years.
In 2020, the university launched an initiative called the “Erez” programme which allowed trainee army officers to study for degrees in humanities and social science subjects.
The programme prompted complaints about militarisation in education from student groups, especially those representing Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Some Palestinian students at the university told MEE they felt increasingly isolated on campus.
“I walk through the university knowing some of my fellow students are taking part in war rooms, designing more efficient methods to carry out the genocide in Gaza,” said one student, on condition of anonymity.
'Number one enemies'
Like Kaul, Anand also delivered his address to the conference remotely. His talk, which was on the "Politics of Fear in Majoritarian Regimes", criticised a range of governments - including Benjamin Netanyahu's - as authoritarian.
"Any criticism of Israeli government is branded as antisemitism," he noted, adding that for the government, "the ultimate enemy is Israeli democracy".
Addressing the Israeli academics in the audience, he said: "For Netanyahu and his supporters, possibly many of you are number one enemies, not even Palestinians."
He praised the welcome address to the conference delivered by Ariel Porat, the president of Tel Aviv University, saying: "I really can't imagine a president or a vice-chancellor of an Indian university or Chinese university or Turkish university these days... ever making those kind of statements."
Porat's speech had addressed what he presented as threats to Israeli democracy and criticised the Netanyahu government - but did not mention Palestinians or the war on Gaza, which was ongoing at the time.
At another point in the talk Anand asserted that among British leftists "hardly anyone talks about Turkey in the way they talk about Israel", because "there's an exceptionalisation of Israel as a problematic entity, and that is antisemitic."
Anand told MEE: "As a professor of International Relations with decades of work on postcolonialism, nationalism, and human rights in various parts of the world, it is important that I exercise my academic freedom to share ideas with other academics."
He added: "I am comfortable with using my research to critique dehumanising practices of states as well as non-state extremists, and in this case, with speaking at a conference on democracy and authoritarianism and engaging with rather than boycotting Israeli Jewish academics.
"As an educationist, I respect the rights of those with different views within law and would expect them to extend the same courtesy to me."
Kaul told MEE: "Bullying, slandering, and harassing academics is an utterly unacceptable targeting of critical scholarship that aims at silencing disagreement on contentious issues and it undermines the basic principles of academic freedom. This is what I am experiencing online."
She also criticised the UCU's statement, saying: "I do not think an educator ought to have views where they go about behaving in this way towards anyone who disagrees with their exact view and their exact actions. As an educator, it is vital to respect different points of view without attributing differences to ill intentions or moral vacuity."
Kaul added: "I would find it very difficult to respect someone who feels that their own personal political beliefs are the only right ones in any complex entrenched conflict, and their own manner of advocating them is the only right way, and uses this to sanctimoniously decry other people and accuse them of being propagandists.
"Doctrinaire views and fundamentalism are only helpful for moral grandstanding and claims of purity, while leading to in-fighting, and are never helpful to intellectual dialogue or to advancing any political cause, no matter how worthy.
"Protest for justice takes many forms, and the academic work of ideas and meaning-making that feeds into action is as important as any other form of action."
A spokesperson from the University of Westminster said it was a "diverse and inclusive institution committed to upholding the principles of academic freedom and freedom of speech.
"Work to support the global academic community, in which Professor Anand is closely involved, has included the creation of sanctuary scholarships for students from conflict regions including Gaza, funding to support a Gazan research fellow, and engagement with other higher education institutions on the reconstruction of Gaza and community cohesion in the UK.
"Work to support all students and colleagues at Westminster has included, for example, hosting events celebrating global cultural festivals, as well as creating spaces for students and colleagues to host discussions, conversations, fundraisers, rallies and vigils."
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