Dr David Hirsh is now "proud to be ashamed to be Jewish"

A great leap for mankind! David Hirsh of Engage has signed a letter appealing to the powers that be in the UK to allow the Palestinian under 19 football team to tour the UK. This is the letter together with its signatories published in the Times newspaper a couple of days ago under the headline "A pitch for Palestine":

Sir, Today at Wembley, 22 Israeli and English footballers, proud to represent their countries, will engage in a sporting contest when they play their crucial qualifier for Euro 2008.

In dramatic contrast, Her Majesty's Government has denied the Palestinian Under-19 squad, equally proud, the chance to travel here to play a number of matches with British clubs. The decision to deny the team their visas is bizarre, taken with no formal reason being given.

Where the UK should have facilitated a morale-boosting tour it has instead proffered double standards. While the Government condemns boycotts and sanctions against Israel, it engages in them against the Palestinians.

It is not too late to rectify the situation; the tour can go ahead more or less as planned. It requires only that the Government treats Palestinian footballers in the same way as their Israeli counterparts. We strongly urge they do so immediately.

Seymour Alexander
Leonie Ashley
Terryl Bacon
Julia Bard
Michael Baron MBE
B Barry
Sue Beardon
Rosemary Bechler
Cllr Elise Benjamin
Michele Benn
Sir Geoffrey Bindman
Jo Bird
Rica Bird
Cllr Jonathan Bloch
Carla Bloom
Emanual M Bloom
Jenny Bloom
Ilse Boas
Jaqueline Bornstein
Jenny Bourne
Rachel Braverman
Dr Colin Brewer
Frances Bruce
Prof Irene Bruegel
Prof Jane Caplan
Elizabeth Carola
Esta Charkham
Gail Chester
Rosalind Claxton
Anthony Clayton
Harry Cohen MP
Ken Cohen
Ruth Cohen
Prof Stan Cohen
Sylvia Cohen
Paul Collins
Mike Cushman
Prof Miriam David FRSA
Sara Davidson
Bernard Davies
Dr Hyman Davies
Sally Davies
Jean Davis
Simone Dawood
Gerald de Groot
Nicky Defries
Ivor Dembina
Jenny Diski
Prof Elizabeth Dore
Marc Eady
Linda Edmondson
Mark Elf
Michael Ellman
Prof David Epstein FRS
Moris Farhi MBE
Nina Farhi
Judy Farrar
Prof Paul Fatt FRS
Prof Gene Feder
Dr Rayah Feldman
Tansy Feltis
Dr Antonio Fernandes-Vidal
Deborah Fink
Sylvia Finzi
Frank Fisher
Mark Forstater
Stephen Fox
Peter Fraenkel
David Freedman
Annie Freud
Ruth Friedman
Prof Ivor Gaber
Jack Garfinkel
Sarah Nicola Garfinkel
Carolyn Gelenter
Denis Glaser
Deborah Glass Woodin
Naomi Goldman
Arthur Goodman
John Goodman
Stuart Goodman
Lesley Grahame
Dr Judith Green
Tony Greenstein
Justin Grossman
Heinz Grünewald
Joan Hall
Michele Hanson
Keir Hardie
David J Harrison
Judith Harrison
Roger Haydon
Abe Hayeem
Rosamine Hayeem
Dr Jane Henriques
Denis Herbstein
Dr Ken Hirschkop
Dr David Hirsh
Prof Eric J Hobsbawm
Dr Philip Hodes
Michael Hornsby
Antonia House
Adam Hurst
Jerry Hyams
Keith Hyams
Prof Paul Hyams F.R.Hist.S
Dr Anthony Isaacs
Dr Susie Jacobs
Joanna Jellinek
Dan Judelson
Ann Jungmann
Jenny Kassman
Paul Kaufman
Shirley Kaufman
Sid Kaufman
Michael Kendall
Nicolas Kent
Dr David Kerr
The Revd Canon Nicholas Kerr
Judith Keshet
Dr David King
Brenda Kirsch
Prof Francesca Klug OBE
Michelle Knight
Prof Eleonore Kofman
Eunice Kossoff
Stevie Krayer
Leon Kuhn
Richard Kuper
Dr. J. Kuper
Prof Emeritus Ailsa Land
Prof Emeritus Frank Land
Madeline Landauer
Jennifer Langer
Jon Lansman
Francesca Lassman
Ruth Leboff
Mike Leigh
Miki Lentin
Hemdat Lerman
Betty Levene
Judith Levene
Simon Levene
Louis Levi
Miriam Levin
Dr Peter Levin
Prof Emeritus Raymond Levy
Rosalind Levy
Tanya Levy
Prof David Lewis
Sue Lewis
Vivien Lichtenstein
Sonja Linden
Anne Lindley
Peter Lipman
Susan Loppert
Stephen Lubell
Prof Steven Lukes
John Lynes
Tony Lynes
Deborah Maccoby
Dorothy Macedo
Daniel Machover
Beryl Maizels
Philippa Manasseh
Kay Manasseh
Jenny Salaman Manson
Carole Marco
Miriam Margolyes OBE
Stuart Markless
David Marks
Rafael Marks
Prof Emeritus Shula Marks
Stephen Marks
Mike Marqusee
Hilda Meers
Dr Ron Mendel
Claudia Mernick
Dr Jonathan Miller
Dr Rachel Miller
Prof Ursula Mittwoch
Anton Moctonian
Dr Daniel Moldavsky
Prof David Mond
Daniel Monk
Andrea Morris
Sharon Nassauer
Simon Natas
Dr Gill Nathan
Prof Mica Nava
Jeannette Nelson
Chaim Neslen
Diana Neslen
Orna Neumann
Ines Newman
Prof Mike Newman
Juliana Ochs
Dr Michael Oppenheim
Charlotte Owen
Sam Paechter
Dr Kathy Panama
Sylvia Pepper
Rina Picciotto
Prof Sol Picciotto
Simon Pirani
Charlie Pottins
Alison Prager
Peter Prager
Sylvia Prager
Caroline Raine
Jerry Ravetz
Susan Reed
Prof Martin Rieser
Adrian Rifkin
Sheila Robin
Dr Brian Robinson
Lee Robinson
Neil Rogall
Dr Ben Rogaly
Zina Rohan
Prof Hilary Rose
Prof Steven Rose
Barbara Rosenbaum
David Rosenberg
Prof Douglas Ross FRS
Leon Rosselson
Ruth Rosselson
Liz Rothschild
Denis Rutovitz
Michael Sackin
Lisa Saffron
Richard Saffron
Michael Safier
Prof Raphael Salkie
Susannah Sallé
Wendy Saloman
Benjamin Alfred Samuel
Prof Andrew Samuels
Simon Sandberg
Cllr Larry Sanders
Dr Esther Saraga
Rabbi Elizabeth Tikvah Sarah
Prof Donald Sassoon
Alexei Sayle
David Schneerson
Dr Susan Schonfield
Prof Graeme Segal
Prof Lynne Segal
Peter Segal
Suzanne Senior
Cath Senker
Shalom Group
Jack Shapiro
Diana Shelley
Dr Peter Sheridan
Sybil Shine
Prof Avi Shlaim FBA
Rebecca Shtasel
Prof Bernard Silverman FRS
Joseph Sinclair
Dr Juliet Singer
Ray Sirotkin
Ruth Sirton
Gillian Slovo
Jill Smith
Ruth Smith
Ben Soffa
Dr David Sperlinger
Harriet Stevens
Prof Frances Stewart
Henry Stewart
Dr Kitty Stewart
Daniella Stone
Sir Tom Stoppard
John Strawson
Paul Sussman
Tony Tabatznik
Rabbi Larry Tabick
Dr David Taylor
Ruth Teddern
Annette Thomas
Andi Tobe
Martin Toch
Suzanne Treister
Sonia Tuban
Tanya Ury
Prof Anton van der Merwe
Prof Claudio Vita-Finzi
Natasha Leah Walden
John Waller
Johnny Wallman
Michelene Wandor
Brian Warshaw
Carla Wartenberg
Janine Waters
Larry Wayne
Margaret Wayne
Naomi Wayne
Irving Weinman
Jenny Weinstein
Jeremy Weinstein
Janet Weitz
Florence Williams
Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi
Devra Wiseman
Walter Wolfgang
Rabbi Alexandra Wright
Miriam Yagud
Sherrl Yanowitz

Nice to see so great an academic putting his name to a list of people he spends more time attacking than supporting. I signed it too,as did the Professors Hilary and Stephen Rose, who Dr Hirsh was happy to see referred to as an "obnoxious floral display [that] comprises of Jews who are proud to be ashamed that they are Jewish." One of the Engage faithful found that too insulting to be included in any serious discussion around action for Palestine:

Apart from exhibiting your own capacity to be obnoxious, what is the point you are making? Moreover,how do you know they are "proud to be ashamed they are Jewish"? It is perfectly possible to believe one's being Jewish demands that one fight injustice wherever it occurs, even, or especially, in the Jewish state.

but Alf Green (aka Dr Hirsh) begged to differ:

"It is perfectly possible to believe one's being Jewish demands that one fight injustice wherever it occurs..."

Yet Steven Rose throws antisemitic abuse at UJS when they fight antisemitism and he uses the language of the Protocols to do it.

And he lies that people on campuses portray any criticism of Israel as antisemitism.

I have to hand it to whoever organised the letter. This one has cast its net wider than the previous effort that involved paying for an advert in the Times. That was to protest the bombardment of Gaza and its signatories included those who wished to save Israel from itself and those who had no time at all for Israel. This one has Dr Hirsh who calls Stephen Rose a liar, and Stephen Rose signing it. It also has me on it, and I have placed more than just a question mark over Dr Hirsh's integrity.

So what's caused this "non"-zionist to change from denouncing Israel's critics to signing a letter with them? The letter isn't criticising Israel of course. It's criticising the UK and rightly so. So I should say that Dr Hirsh is "proud to be ashamed to be British." Sorry Doctor but perhaps he should list some dos and don'ts regarding what we can and can't do to support the Palestinians and use his own name to do it.

Woops, in all the fun I forgot to mention that the Times also ran an article on the letter it published. It's headed "Jews try to end ban on Palestinian team." Just as well, I can't see anything on this at the Engage site. That doesn't mean it's not there. To be fair, they reported the denial of visas back on 22 August but I can't find anything since then. Is Dr Hirsh ashamed to be proud to be ashamed to be British or Jewish? Perhaps Alf Green could tell us. Or maybe it's a different Dr Hirsh.