I am sure some of you of you have already read about anti-semitic Oxford professor Andrew Wilkie, who wrote the following email to an Israeli student requesting the oportunity to work in his laboratory:
Dear Amit Duvshani,Thank you for contacting me, but I don’t think this would work. I have a huge problem with the way that the Israelis take the moral high ground from their appalling treatment in the Holocaust, and then inflict gross human rights abuses on the Palestinians because they (the Palestinians) wish to live in their own country.
I am sure that you are perfectly nice at a personal level, but no way would I take on somebody who had served in the Israeli army. As you may be aware, I am not the only UK scientist with these views but I’m sure you will find another suitable lab if you look around.
Yours sincerely,
Andrew Wilkie
Dear Mr Wilkie,I read your e-mail response to Amit Duvshani, rejecting his request to work in your laboratory. I have also read your apologies after complaints were made against you. But to paraphrase you “I don’t think this will work”.
I could bombard you with facts about the conflict in this part of the world, such as the Arab states’ initiation of all wars against Israel, Israel’s capturing of land in self-defence, and the palestinians documented admissions of using the “land for peace” formula as a trojan horse trap. I could also bombard you with facts about Israel, its democratic nature and its treatment of all law abiding citizens. But reading your hate-filled e-mail, I can only conclude that the facts would only stand in the way of your deep-seated prejudice.
You see, Mr Wilkie, I do not believe you for a second when you claim you are not anti-Semitic, just like I don’t believe anyone who claims they are only anti-Zionist. You write of Israeli inflicting “… gross human rights abuses on the Palestinians because they (the Palestinians) wish to live in their own country.” Yet you don’t seem to recognize the Jews right to live in their own country free of human rights abuses such as suicide bombings and shootings. Or perhaps you views these as legitimate acts?
Even if Israel was committing human rights violations as you claim, which is something I strongly contest, why do you single out Israeli’s? Do you also reject students affiliated with Hamas? How about students from North Korea and Iran?
I think it is quite telling that you mention the Jews “appalling treatment in the holocaust.” By treating Mr Duvshani in the manner in which you did, by demonizing Israel and by denying her the right to defend herself, you have clearly not learned anything from this dark episode in history, except perhaps the utility of mentioning it to make offensive parallels with the current conflict.
Mr Wilkie, I hope you take time to contemplate the amount of distress caused by your conduct.
