Education

August 24, 2011

Scottish university student guilty of anti-Israel racism

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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.

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