August 24, 2011
Scottish university student guilty of anti-Israel racism
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St. Andrews University Classics Building
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.
