Newly elected Rector claims Glasgow University ‘colludes in the murder of innocents’

New rector at University of Glasgow has claimed that the university “colludes in the murder of innocents” due to its links to arms companies.

Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah, a British-Palestinian surgeon, was elected after he won an 80 per cent majority in elections held by the SRC at the end of last month.

His investiture was held over the weekend, and has resulted in a national outcry. During his speech, he made reference to various individuals, including Che Guevara, Rosa Luxembourg, and most controversially, IRA leader Bobby Sands, referring to him as “immortal”.

Sands was also well known for his role as leader of the 1981 hunger strike. This was a strike in which Irish republican prisoners protested against the removal of Special Category Status, which afforded them more rights in prison.

Scottish Tory Glasgow MSP Annie Wells made comment that she is “deeply concerned” with the language used by the new Glasgow University rector.

“Many people will rightfully be outraged at his glorification of convicted terrorists and eulogy of an anti-Semitic terrorist leader.”

Abu-Sittah also claimed the institution “actively colludes in the murder of innocent civilians” as a result of its shares in arms companies.

He tweeted: “University of Glasgow owns £4.5million in shares in arms companies.

“They supply the arms used by Israeli military to murder 53,000 Palestinians (14,000 children).

“The University of Glasgow actively colludes in the murder of innocent civilians.”

During his campaign, the newly elected rector pledged to change the definition on campus of anti-Semitism, which he said undermined freedom of speech and intellectual thought.

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Speaking to the Daily Mail, the president of the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council, Timothy Lovat has commented “Students have endorsed someone who claims to understand anti-Semitism better than the Jewish community and seeks to make the university a less safe place to be Jewish”.

The definition Abu Sittah seeks to implement is the Jerusalem definition, which states that: “Antisemitism is discrimination, prejudice, hostility or violence against Jews as Jews (or Jewish institutions as Jewish).”

Lovat goes on to say that “If the university is committed to being an open and safe environment for all, and a place of open and free exchange of ideas, that must cause it as much concern as it does the Jewish community, and we therefore trust that they will fully investigate these charges and take such action as they are able, to mitigate the damage to the welfare of their students as well as to their own reputation”.

Prior to his investiture, Abu Sittah was investigated by the university after the group UK Lawyers For Israel alerted them to screenshots of the “offensive social media tweets” allegedly written by Dr Abu Sittah.

An article has been published on their website, listing the social media posts, which include a commemoration of Nasser Abu Hamid in 2022, who was given seven life sentences plus 50 years for multiple murder convictions.

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