Death threats did not cause cancellation of Middle East discussion in Dublin

A Middle East discussion at University College Dublin under the auspices of its Law Society was cancelled at short notice, after three pro-Palestine panellists withdrew.

But early reports that the panellists had received death threats on social media, and that An Garda Siochana, the Irish police, had been called in to investigate, were dismissed by the Law Society auditor, or president, Robin Jowett, as well as one of the intended participants, Dr Harry Browne of Academics for Palestine in Ireland.

One of the intended participants, Israeli history professor Roy Flechner, believed that there had been death threats and that police were due on campus to collect testimonies from the Law Society students. He was one of the panellists, together with John Levy, director of the UK’s Academic Study Group on Israel and the Middle East; Dr Harry Browne; Eamonn Meehan, chair of the Ireland Palestine Alliance; and Zaid Alberghouti, from the Union of Students in Palestine.

After the initial cancellation, one of the Law Society event convenors claimed that the announcement of the event had caused a social media uproar, engendering abuse and death threats, which in turn had resulted in the three pro-Palestinian panellists pulling out of the event.

But Dr Browne rejected this version, telling Jewish News: “Our withdrawal was a collective decision in Academics for Palestine… I’m afraid the story is ‘Hypothetical idiots online behaving idiotically did not lead to withdrawal of speakers, who were not aware of them’.”

Robin Jowett, the auditor or president of the Law Society, which was founded more than a century ago, said: “Unfortunately, there seems to have been some confusion and misinformation in the details provided by our debate convenors.

“To clarify, the event last night was not postponed or cancelled as a result of death threats or any complaint to An Garda Siochana. No such threats were received.

“We decided the event could not go ahead as a result of the withdrawal of a number of guests, which created an imbalance in our speaking panel. The guests cited, as principal reasons for withdrawal, the timing of the event — specifically, holding such an event ‘at a time when thousands of people are being killed’; ‘due to [the event] being scheduled during this horrific time’; and holding a debate ‘’in light of its format, participants, framing and timing’. None of the guests raised any concerns or made comments regarding any social media activity or messaging received by the Society or themselves.”

Jewish News understands that in fact the police did turn up at the Dublin campus but those who had originally claimed to be affected by social media did not, leaving the police to say there was nothing to be done.