This is a guest post by Hadar Sela.
Concern is regularly expressed on these pages and elsewhere regarding the volatile situation in British universities surrounding the issue of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the increasing blight of anti-Semitism on campus and the radicalisation of students by members of Islamist organisations. It seems, however, that these subjects are by no means limited to the sphere of higher education.
In the debut issue of the online student magazine of Parrs Wood High School in Manchester, published a couple of months ago, we find on pages 19 & 20 (png) a ‘timeline’ of the Arab-Israeli conflict introduced thus:
“Palestine & Israel – The simple guide
The Palestine and Israel conflict. It’s something you’ve all probably heard of from your friends, or the media; but how much do you actually know about one of the most controversial conflicts in history? The problem started with Palestine being an Arab, Muslim state; however, over the years, more and more Jewish migrants have been settling there and creating their own state named ‘Israel’. There have been many debates and wars ever since, between the two groups, about who should claim the land. The bloody battles for land span over decades and below you can see a timeline I’ve constructed, containing just facts, so you can make your own mind up about the situation.”
The timeline itself is replete with inaccuracies, omissions and, frankly, downright lies but somehow it appears to have passed the scrutiny of the member of staff acting as editorial assistant. When approached, the head teacher replied as follows: (original formatting)
Dear Ms. Sela,
Thank you for your e-mail. Your comments have been noted.
As I have stated to the many communications I have received, (interestingly I have received many today when our children’s school magazine was published two months ago?), and to the Jewish Telegraph who also raised concerns over the publication of the article in question, it was perhaps a mistake to allow such an over-simplification of a complex issue to be addressed by one of our junior contributors and we certainly apologise for any upset caused by its publication.
Also, I would hope that a single pupil article would not be received by its audience as a reflection of the beliefs or knowledge of the pupil body or the school as a whole, nor should it be compared to fully researched historical accounts, of which there are many, all of which are written with some bias and fallibility by the very nature that they are written by humans.
We will be issuing an apology for any offence this article may have caused to any of our readers in our next publication.
Yours sincerely
Andrew Shakos.
The problem of course is that almost 2,500 pupils have by now read and absorbed the politically-charged inaccuracies served up by the institution upon which they rely for knowledge. An apology will not remedy that disinformation.
But unfortunately, that is not the only problem at Parrs Wood High. On February 18th a sex-segregated ‘women only’ charity event is to be held there, organised by Human Appeal International. This is not the first time that the school has permitted fund-raising for HAI on its premises: in 2009 a ‘Day for Gaza’ event was held.
Human Appeal International is one of several British charities which come under the umbrella of the Muslim Brotherhood’s fund-raising network for Hamas – the ‘Union of Good’ – chaired by the homophobic, misogynistic and antisemitic Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi. As such, HAI is banned by Israel , has appeared on the US State Department’s list of charities linked to terrorism since 1996 and was cited by the FBI as a recipient of funds from the convicted Special Designated Terrorist Entity the Holy Land Foundation.
In 2005 Human Appeal International was one of two charities named on the charge sheet against Ahmad Salatna – a Hamas activist from Jenin who headed the Jenin Zakat Society and was convicted of providing some £6.2 million of funds originating in Europe to Hamas cells, suicide bombers and their families.
One of HAI’s current trustees is Dr. Nooh (or Noah) al Kaddo from Dublin who also serves as executive director of the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland. The ICCI is part of the Muslim Brotherhood’s European network and hosts the European Council for Fatwa & Research – also headed by Qaradawi. It is also registered as the headquarters of Qaradawi’s International Union of Muslim Scholars. Dr. al Kaddo is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s umbrella organization in Europe – the Federation of Islamic Organisations in Europe.
As is well known, Qaradawi endorses suicide bombings in Israel. However, when he was banned from entering Ireland in August 2011, Dr al Kaddo described him to the press as “widely respected” and a “learned scholar”, adding that:
“His views are representative of Islamic teachings and are not assumed to be a violation of same”
In view of the above, I approached the school’s head-teacher once again:
Dear Mr Shakos,
Thank you for your reply – albeit copy/pasted!
Unfortunately a mere apology will, I fear, not be sufficient in order to correct the malicious lies now firmly nested in your pupils’ minds. Rather, they need to urgently hear a factual and impartial account of the events described in your school magazine.
Even more worrying is the fact that your school is allowing this event to take place upon its premises:
http://www.facebook.com/events/213682758719764/
One takes it as read that as a headmaster you ran a full check of the credentials of the charity you are permitting to use your facilities for fundraising.
I would therefore be very interested to hear the rational behind exposing your students to the influences of a charity with known links to a terrorist organisation proscribed by your government and also to be found on the list of charities proscribed by Israel and the list of charities linked to terrorism as compiled by the government of the United States of America.
I look forward to your swift reply,
Best wishes,
My request was indeed swiftly met with the following reply:
Dear Ms. Sela,
My final word on the matter is…how would you know that the response was ‘copy/pasted’ if you were not part of a coordinated attack on the school?
We at Parrs Wood strive to teach tolerance, compassion and forgiveness. I would hope that our community would do the same.
It deeply saddens me that your response suggests otherwise.
Should you wish to receive any other response for me, I would ask that you put in writing, by post, and that it includes your postal address and contact telephone number. I will then respond in writing by post.
Yours sincerely
Andrew Shakos
Headteacher
I, fortunately, do not have any children at Mr Shakos’ school or any other school in the UK. I do, however, have something more of an insight now into the creation of the kind of intolerant and extremist atmosphere which exists in too many British universities and the sad realization that some students may be arriving there already tainted by anti-Israel sentiment.
