“It is clear that I have been removed from university court because I called for an end to Israel’s war crimes against Palestinians, and I will not apologise for doing so.”
The rector of St Andrews University in Scotland has been removed from the institution’s governing body over comments she made about Israel’s ongoing “genocidal attacks” on Gaza.
Last November, Stella Maris sent an email to the university’s students in which she shared her “personal perspectives and understanding regarding the Israeli-Palestine conflict directly to the students who elected me.”
She urged students “to seek the most recent information and exercise due diligence before taking any action based on this email’s contents.”
Included in her email, Maris said: “We must continue to recognize and condemn acts that are internationally regarded as humanitarian and war crimes. These include practices such as apartheid, siege, illegal occupation and collective punishment, which have been observed in the treatment of Palestinians.”
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‘Lengthy Process’
In a statement on Thursday, the University said Maris was to be “discharged from the role of President of Court and as a charity trustee” after she “repeatedly declined to accept the conclusion of an independent investigation.”
“The decision to discharge Ms Maris is the conclusion of a lengthy process which began in November 2023 when Ms Maris, as Rector, issued a message to all 10,000 St Andrews students offering her personal opinions on the conflict in Gaza and Israel,” the University said.
It then claimed that Marris also “published a series of posts on social media, some of which the subsequent independent investigation found were “discourteous and disrespectful” in the way in which they dismissed fears raised by students who had contacted her seeking reassurance.”
Claims of Antisemitism
The investigation’s conclusion included that she “was entitled to free speech, but had exercised ‘poor judgment’ in the manner in which she wrote to all students to give her personal opinions on the conflict, specifically in ignoring the possibility that her words from a position of leadership could encourage antisemitic behavior by others.”
Maris however said she would “not apologize” for making a statement supported by the “overwhelming majority of students.”
She stressed: “It is clear that I have been removed from university court because I called for an end to Israel’s war crimes against Palestinians, and I will not apologize for doing so.”
Maris also reportedly added that “as a young, neurodiverse Black woman with limited financial resources, I have faced the full force of the university, including a KC investigation, all because I made a statement supported by the overwhelming majority of students, calling for an end to a genocide.”
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‘Emboldens Israel’
Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah, a world-renowned British-Palestinian surgeon, who has worked in Gaza and serves as Rector at the University of Glasgow, criticized St Andrews for removing Maris, stating that this decision would further embolden Israel, reported the Middle East Monitor (MEMO).
Abu Sittah said, “The silencing of pro-Palestinian or anti-genocide voices is the reason why this genocide is still going on after 10 months.”
He stressed that “These institutions have been part of a system of genocide enablement that has emboldened the Israeli government in its attempts to erase the Palestinian people.”
Maris has said she will appeal the decision with support from the European Legal Support Centre, stating that the “idea that Palestinian human rights and the war crimes of Israel in Gaza cannot be discussed in higher education is deeply concerning.”
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 39,480 Palestinians have been killed, and 91,128 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the enclave.
(PC, MEMO)
Stella Maris, star of the sea?
When will Universities stop conflating thus confusing anti-Zionism with antisemitism? Anti-Zionism is repudiation and opposition to Israel’s anti-Palestinian policies, whether said Palestinians are stateless or Israeli citizens. Antisemitism is the hatred of Jews merely for being Jews. Confusing policies with people, a case of category error or mistake, is one of the things that university education is supposed to stop – it’s supposed to teach critical thought. FWIW, a category error – confusing Metric with Imperial – lead to NASA losing its Mars Climate Orbiter in 1999, so it’s far from a minor error in logic.
Good for her, but this shows how demented the establishment is everywhere because of their support of Zionism and genocide. The world can never be the same ever as this disease is now a fundamental part of the collective consciousness.