I saw the following being shared on Twitter and, based on the source and headline, I just shared it on. I should have known better.
Teacher who used ‘racist’ terms against Jews ‘is not anti-Semitic,’ UK review panel says
(JTA) — A government ethics review panel in the United Kingdom said that a teacher who it had suspended for inveighing against Jews and Israel “is not anti-Semitic.”
The assertion came in the summary by the country’s Teaching Regulation Agency of a disciplinary review last month of the actions of Harpreet Singh, 48, who was head of mathematics at Sandye Place Academy in Bedfordshire, 50 miles north of London, the BBC reported Tuesday.
When you read the small snippets of what he posted (and admitted posting) it is clear the things said are full-on Jew hatred. This is from the full PDF of the decision of the UK’s Teaching Regulation Agency, I have highlighted in bold the specific examples of what the Mr Singh posted on his Facebook page.
Findings of fact
The findings of fact were as follows:
The Panel found the following particulars of the allegations against you proven, for these reasons:
1. Made offensive and/or racist comments via Facebook on one or more occasions;
Proven.
Mr Singh admitted this allegation. In addition, the panel saw evidence in the bundle of the comments written by Mr Singh on Facebook. Mr Singh admitted that his Facebook profile was used to post the relevant comments and also that he had typed and posted them. The panel considered whether the comments were offensive and/or racist in their nature. One example of the comments made is: “Every sane human is anti semitic. Because you bastards have made Zionism synonymous with the mistreatment of Palestinians. Billions are anti semitic and proud of it. Israel should be wiped of [sic] the planet. Dogs! The chosen race?!?!?!! What an insult to God!” The panel concluded that the comments were both offensive and racist. Therefore, on the balance of probabilities, the panel found this allegation proven.
3. In undertaking allegations 1, you demonstrated a lack of tolerance and respect for the rights and/or beliefs of others.
Proven.
Mr Singh denied this allegation on the basis that, during his evidence, he said that he does not have any dislike for the Jewish faith or people. The panel also viewed the screenshots in the bundle of the Facebook comments posted by Mr Singh. The panel took into account the example of the comment made by Mr Singh on Facebook, quoted under allegation 1, above. The panel also took into account another comment Mr Singh admitted to posting which stated, “Of course we hate Jews. Israel is the most evil regime on the planet. Supported by Jews from within and from around the world. A token 20-30 Jews speak out.” Mr Singh stated in evidence that he was provoked and that the comments were taken out of context. He further stated that he did not write the original post which commenced the sequence of exchanges, but just responded to it.
The panel considered those comments, as well as some of the other comments it had seen in the bundle which were of a similar nature, and which Mr Singh admitted to posting on Facebook on a public forum, and felt that they were serious, offensive, racist, and demonstrative of a lack of tolerance and respect for the beliefs of others. The panel was of the view that no matter what the context or the provocation, those comments were offensive and racist.
Therefore, on the balance of probabilities, the panel found this allegation proven.
Only two examples are given without specifying the further contexts properly. Some are comments on other peoples’ posts, but the specifics are hard for us to judge. It certainly does matter if they were posts in their own right or shares of mainstream articles or other possibly highly slanted material (slanted against Jews and Israel).
Back to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), which is the largest and oldest news wire service for Jewish matters, a Reuters for Jewish news – we see how they close their news piece:
But the panel said in its review that it “accepted that Mr. Singh is not anti-Semitic. It also accepted that he was not trying to impact upon or influence children or the public, as he did not realize his comments were public. His actions were impulsive and were made in response to something which offended him, and were said (in his opinion) as an attempt to defend the Palestinians.” Singh also wrote that “Israel should be wiped off the planet.”
This isn’t the last paragraph because added on the end is a tenuously connected story from France about antisemitic graffiti. Starting the paragraph “But” imparts a subtle opinion slant to the news article. The man clearly posted antisemitic comments, says the report, yet he isn’t an antisemite. That’s the paradox which JTA is highlighting and, with its tone, criticising here. JTA also neglects to say anything about the other charges which were using his school laptop during classes to do non-related internet activities and specifically giving his password to someone else who then viewed “sexual material”. Mr Singh himself didn’t do this.
This is the full paragraph from the disciplinary report (my highlights again) relating to the evaluation of the charges of antisemitism:
The panel heard evidence from Mr Singh that his comments were directed at the actions of the Israeli Government rather than against the Jewish faith and people. Having given that evidence careful and detailed consideration, and having explored this in detail with Mr Singh during his oral testimony, the panel accepted that Mr Singh is not anti-Semitic. It also accepted that he was not trying to impact upon or influence children or the public, as he did not realise his comments were public. His actions were impulsive and were made in response to something which offended him, and were said (in his opinion) as an attempt to defend the Palestinians.
We don’t know what was said so we simply can’t judge but I’m going to present my opinion on how you can arrive at a conclusion that Mr Singh wrote antisemitic things on Facebook but isn’t himself an antisemite.
Just this week, the BBC has shown a two-part program “We Are British Jews”. They took a bunch of British Jews representing a range of opinions on the only “Jewish” issue that really matters in the UK: Israel/Palestine. Nothing else matters for British Jews: kosher/not kosher, intermarriage, eating rice at Passover, Shabbat observance. Only Israel’s treatment of Arabs who call themselves Palestinians. I’ve only watched the first program which ends with the participants being flown to Israel. Most have visited before, one hadn’t. The end of the first program is still “safe”: enjoying a pleasant evening on a Kibbutz in real Israel, the north (though close to Lebanon and Syria of course).
But the simple phrasing of the introduction to Israel is that in 1948 Palestinians started a resistance to the newly-formed Jewish State that became violent. You know the BBC must have sweated every single word of narration for this one show which aired on exactly the day the UK Labour party was finally browbeaten into accepting the IHRC definition of Jew hatred (antisemitism). This is the best they can do?
When you frame every utterance on Israel in loaded language, and you produce a program where you divide Jews into the good Jews (who take the side of the poor, oppressed, occupied Palestinians) vs the bad Jews (who back Jewish Israel regardless), you create what the UK has become.
Aussie Dave here at Israellycool has years of material calling out UK media: every false or misleading charge can be answered. He’s also completely nailed the entire question of anti-Zionism vs antisemitism: almost without exception hatred and delegitimization of Israel is hatred of Jews.
Together I come back to the title of this post: normal people in the UK may now hate Jews. The powerful influence of a corrupted and lying mainstream media now means it is acceptable to hate reported actions of Jews in Israel. And, by extension, to hate Jews in the UK who defend the actions of the one government in the world which can accurately be described as being run mostly by Jews. Hating Israel and Jews is a new normal in the UK.
Absent more information on this particular person, I don’t know if his heart is full of hatred for Jews. I suspect it isn’t. But all you have to do is repeat any of a multitude of claims, such as Israel is massacring unarmed protesters just because we can, and you have repeated an antisemitic statement. By this measure, it would appear that Jew hating will become the normal condition in the UK and avoiding it takes an extraordinary effort of self-education.
My final word I put in a tweet: definitions and enforcement don’t “protect Jews from antisemitism”. They’re meant to protect non Jews from the catastrophe that eventually befalls all who chose to blame all their own faults on another (in this case Jews).
