FUCU Celebrity Witness Howard Jacobson Breaks His Silence

How many's that now?  I can't remember for sure. It might be five, maybe six with Howard Jacobson. Jacobson has taken his time getting round to denouncing the result of the FUCU case in this Independent piece.  And what has prompted his outpouring now appears to be the news that Stephen Hawking won't be attending an Israeli war criminal's birthday bash.

Anyway, here's Jacobson on the FUCU case:

 Judge Anthony Snelson who, investigating a complaint that the Union was institutionally anti-Semitic, encountered not a trace of any such beast, no suggestion it had lurked or was lurking, not the faintest rustle of its cerements, not so much as a frozen shadow on a wall. 

A complaint?  There were ten complaints, all of which were found to be without merit, utter tosh, all of them.  And they weren't asked to find any "trace" of antisemitism. They were presented with ten specific allegations that various events at the University and College Union amounted to the racial harassment of a Jewish supporter of the Zionist project.

And see what he says on Hawking:

And now, with Stephen Hawking announcing, by means of an Israeli-made device, that he no longer wants to talk to the scientists who invented it, or to Israeli scientists who invented or might invent anything else, or indeed to Israeli historians, critics, biologists, physicists of any complexion, no matter what their relations to Palestinian scholars whom he does want to talk to, we are reminded that the cultural boycott with which he has suddenly decided to throw in his lot is entirely unJew-related, which is more good news.  “Peace”, that is all Professor Hawking seeks, a word that was left out of his statement...

Here's a reminder from Hawking's statement [taken here from Daily Beast but all over the web]:

I accepted the invitation to the Presidential Conference with the intention that this would not only allow me to express my opinion on the prospects for a peace settlement 

It doesn't tell us much about Hawking. It does however tell us a lot about Howard Jacobson.

And do you know the word that was left out of Howard Jacobson's statement listing all those who Hawking doesn't want to associate with?  It's Peres.