UPDATE
Following the publication of this article and the personal intervention of Hen Mazzig, the text of the article has been changed from former IDF “agent” to the more appropriate “officer.”
The false equivalency between anti-Israel attackers and their Jewish student victims has not as yet been addressed.
Extremist anti-Israel speakers being given a platform to spew hate on campuses is, sadly, all too common. So it was the case at University College London when Azzam Tamimi and Miko Peled were hosted for a speaking event.
Hamas fanboy Tamimi has a history of support for terrorism. In 2010 he stated: “You shouldn’t be afraid of being labelled extreme, radical or terrorist. If fighting for your home land is terrorism, I take pride in being a terrorist. The Koran tells me if I die for my homeland, I’m a martyr and I long to be a martyr.” Additionally, in a BBC interview in 2004, Tamimi argued that carrying out a suicide bombing for Palestine “is a noble cause. It is the straight way to pleasing my God and I would do it if I had the opportunity.”
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Miko Peled has also made comments that have widely been considered anti-Semitic. At this year’s UK Labour Party Conference, Peled indicated that the Holocaust could be up for debate, saying: “the Holocaust: yes or no” and equated Zionists with Nazis.
The Times of London covered protests against the event. Its report includes the following:
A former IDF “agent?”
In this context, the word “agent,” whose dictionary definitions include someone taking part in undercover activities, including espionage, takes on a sinister tone.
Members of the IDF are normally referred to as… soldiers.
This particular soldier was Hen Mazzig who was invited to speak about his experiences in the IDF’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) unit carrying out humanitarian work in the West Bank, building medical facilities, school, roads and water infrastructure.
In response to HonestReporting’s tweet demanding a correction, Mazzig himself tweeted the journalist demanding an apology:
Hey @RosieDBennett are you going to ignore this? You defame me calling “agent”… how am I an agent more than you are? Am I paid by the IDF? The Israeli gov? Apology is not only in place, I demand it. Journalist. https://t.co/ZFZ7UI5jcQ
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) November 14, 2017
And the “clashes between pro-Palestinian protesters and members of the pro-Israeli group?”
As the Daily Telegraph reported at the time:
Dozens of police officers were called to one of the country’s top universities to quell a “violent” anti-Israel protest which left Jewish students barricaded in a room, after being told their safety could not be guaranteed if they left alone.
Attendees at the University College London (UCL) event were forced to remain in a lecture room after hearing a talk by Israeli activist Hen Mazzig, as they waited for police to escort them through the crowds of around 100 demonstrators who had gathered outside.
Police are investigating after two female Jewish students reported that they were assaulted during the evening. One was knocked to the ground when protesters broke into the lecture room through a window and jumped in, while another was pushed against a door causing her to have a panic attack.
This hardly sounds like two sides clashing. Rather one side (anti-Israel activists) attacking Jewish students.
The Times has created a false equivalence between the two, failing to acknowledge where the threat really emanated from. Perhaps The Times’s journalist should watch the well-documented video footage from that evening.
https://youtu.be/zQbvHlzKluc
