Scottish Student Expelled for Insulting Israeli Flag
A university student in Scotland was found guilty of racism after insulting a fellow student’s Israeli flag, and he was expelled from St. Andrews University.
The student, Paul Donnachie, 19, reportedly called an exchange student from Yeshiva University in New York a terrorist and said Israel was a terrorist state and the flag was a terrorist symbol. He then put his hands down his pants and then rubbed them on the small flag hanging on the wall, the BBC reported.
The flag had been a gift to the Jewish student, Chanan Reitblat, from his brother, a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces, according to the report.
Donnachie, a member of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said he would appeal Tuesday’s ruling.
“This is a ridiculous conviction,” he said, according to the BBC. “I’m a member of anti-racism campaigns, and I am devastated that as someone who was fought against racism I have been tarnished in this way.”
A second student, Samuel Colchester, 20, was acquitted due to insufficient evidence. He was suspended from the university for one year.
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
