Israeli professor branded 'terrorist' vows to keep on teaching after protest by masked students
Professor Ben-Gad vows to carry on his role despite police being called to his place of work
An Israeli professor has told LBC he will keep teaching after a protest against him was held by 'masked students' who stormed a university building.
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Calls had been made for academic Michael Ben-Gad to be sacked from his role at City University in London following links to his service in the Israel Defence Forces in the 1980s.
The action comes after a petition was launched by City Action for Palestine created leaflets distributed branding him a 'terrorist.'
But the professor said matters then escalated last Thursday when the police were called following a demonstration held by masked students.
Mr Ben-Gad said the protestors, who may not all have been students, refused to show their IDs before eventually being escorted off the premises.
Read more: UK deploys troops to Israel to 'help monitor Gaza ceasefire' after orders from Donald Trump
Speaking to Nick Ferrari at Breakfast, he said it started out with an Instagram "campaign" against him following his links to the IDF where he completed a 36-month mandatory service from 1982 to 1985.
He also told Ferrari he was getting criticised for previously studying and teaching in Israel.
The professor said: "Effectively, if I had to describe it, I'm being accused of living in the Middle East while being Jewish, and you have to wonder if we're not allowed to live there, well, where are we allowed to live now?
"My first inclination was not to give this oxygen so I ignored it. And things escalated last Thursday, when there was a small demonstration which became rather disruptive with a lot of incitement and by masked students.
"We're not actually sure that all of them are students. They refused to cooperate with the security guards.
"They refused to show their IDs. Eventually, the university had no choice but to call in the police.
"The university has been brilliant. They've given me their full support. I was offered the opportunity to have my teaching basically suspended and go on a kind of research leave, which is very tempting.
"I have lots of research projects that I could pursue, but under the circumstances, that would be absolutely the wrong message to send.
"So I am carrying on with my duties. I am showing up to my lectures as I'm supposed to. I'm not going to disappoint the students."
Professor Ben-Gad, who has worked at the British university since 2007, serving as head of department from 2010 to 2013, said he would refuse to "play the victim" but insisted his background was no secret.
Ferrari asked: "Are they some of your own students who are confronting you?"
The professor responded: "Well, they're masks, so I don't know, but I really, really strongly doubt it.
"I also think that even if they're students, they are receiving instruction and advice from grownups.
"In other words, either bad apples among the academic staff inside the university or more likely, people from outside organisations.
"I don't think it's necessarily a coincidence that this all began on the day the ceasefire started.
"You have an entire industry of people who want to protest against Israel and they are now looking for a new cause.
"I would also mention that if anybody believes that anti Zionism and anti Semitism are completely separate things, they are also targeting the president of the university, Professor Sir Anthony Finkelstein, who has never had any sort of formal relationships with an Israeli institution.
"There were really nasty posters with what was meant to be his picture on them, but actually were pictures of his brother, Danny Finkelstein instead."
Asked what his message would be to the protestors, Prof Ben-Gad said: "This part of a much broader problem in universities and it's not just about Israel.
"People have been really, really supportive around the world, have been writing in.
"I want to thank all of them, but I really want to put this into perspective.
"If you want to meet some real profiles of courage, talk to some of the gender critical feminists who have been targeted for asserting all sorts of bizarre ideas like, for example, biological, sexual is not just a social construct. People like Alice Sullivan or Kathleen Stock."