January 24, 2010

Hirsh exposes false report in Jewish Chronicle

Hurrah for Dr Hirsh of the Engage website! A couple of days ago Engage ran a report from the Jewish Chronicle's website by a chap called Leon Symons. Here's a piece from that JC report:
Panellist Mary Davis, professor of labour history at the London Metropolitan University, admitted she felt “isolated and, yes, intimidated” at last May’s congress because she was the only Jew present and the only one prepared to speak out against the boycott.
Well Hirsh is nothing if not a stickler for accuracy so he ran this correction beneath the post:

Note by David Hirsh:

Leon Symons is wrong to say that Mary Davis was the only Jew present at the 2009 UCU Congress. The point I have made is that there were no Jews present at that Congress who were prepared to speak against the boycott. Mary Davis is against the boycott and did make a procedural move against the boycott but did not speak against it in the debate. Of course there are lots of Jews at UCU Congress who are prepared to speak for the boycott. My piece on that Congress is here: http://engageonline.wordpress.com/2009/05/28/michael-cushman-and-the-jew-free-ucu-congress/

So there was at least one Jew there but the JC was wrong to say that there was only one. So how did the JC get it so wrong? And what did David Hirsh call the post on the UCU Congress at which he now claims "there are lots of Jews"? Michael Cushman and the Jew-free UCU Congress. And what did he say in his post containing the words, "Jew-free UCU Congress".
Michael Cushman is excited by his victory. He hasn’t noticed the significance of the fact that Congress is now free of Jews.
Except one surely? Well no, look. He immediately follows up with:
Except for Jews like him, the Jews who speak “as a Jew” but who are quite unable to recognize antisemitism. Haim Bresheeth. John Rose. Michael Cushman. These are the Jews now, at UCU Congress.
Now if Leon Symons is getting his info from Engage then he needs to brush up on his speed reading or maybe from reading Engage he is just one confused dude but something I don't get is how Hirsh knows who is Jewish and who is not when so many contributors to Engage, including Hirsh, so heartily disapprove of people who speak "as a Jew". Doesn't that mean that there could be Jews speaking against a boycott who are Jews but, like Hirsh, don't like to say? Or is Engage saying that the only people entitled to speak "as a Jew" are people who support the racist war criminals of the State of Israel or at least who oppose a boycott?

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