Rector of Glasgow University denies antisemitism accusations
Dr Ghassan Abu-Sitta suggested anyone who knew the “nuance” of Arabic language and culture would understand he was not being racist
The Rector of the University of Glasgow has denied at a hearing before medical watchdogs accusations of antisemitism and supporting Hamas in social media posts and a newspaper article.
Dr Ghassan Abu-Sitta, a plastic surgeon and prominent Palestinian activist, appeared on Tuesday before a Fitness to Practice panel of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) in Manchester.
The Kuwaiti-born medic, who did medical training at the University of Glasgow, and lives in London with his wife and three sons, claimed he had been racially profiled as “inherently violent” because he is a Palestinian and Arab and blamed a Jewish group for trying to “destroy” his life.
He also appeared to suggest his appearance on misconduct charges was politically motivated.
Dr Abu-Sitta suggested anyone who knew the “nuance” of Arabic language and culture would understand he was not being antisemitic or advocating for violence or terrorism.
The tribunal was told the doctor was attending after flying in from Lebanon where he was treating “war wounded,” his lawyer Zac Sammour, told the hearing.
Dr Abu-Sitta denies all the allegations.
The hearing was told about two tweets from the medic in 2023 and an article he wrote for a Lebanese newspaper, Al Akhbar, in March 2018.
In the article, the medic wrote about the “martyrdom” of Ahmad Nasr Jarrar, a “hero” of the Nablus operation, saying: “The people have no weapon left but revolutionary violence.”
Jarra was believed to be a member of Hamas and suspected of orchestrating an operation where a rabbi was killed in a drive-by shooting in the West Bank city of Nablus.
Ros Emsley Smith, representing the General Medical Council (GMC) said: “The murder of a Rabbi, the very embodiment of the Jewish religion, not a solider, to the ordinary reader would be interpreted as supportive of that act of terrorism.”
She said using the words “martyr” and “hero” would be seen as a “celebration” of Jarrar and given his suspected actions, “meets the definition of antisemitism.”
And she said Dr Abu-Sitta had, “overstepped the boundary of legitimate political speech and into the realms of misconduct.”
The doctor is also accused of re-posting two tweets, one saying: “We congratulate our brothers in Hamas and our comrades in the Popular Front on the anniversary of their inception.”
A second tweet refers to “Martyrs in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine”, referring to a man who carried out the first operation using a suicide belt in 1974, and a second man, Shams al-Din al-Qazimi, who died during fighting in 1973.
Ms Emsley Smith said the matters were brought to the attention of the GMC by the group, UK Lawyers for Israel.
Dr Abu-Sitta said UK Lawyers for Israel had been “trying to destroy my life”.
And he said he was a witness to the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice and cited the arrest warrant for Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the “genocide in Gaza”.
“That’s why we are here,” he told the hearing.
But Dr Abu-Sitta said he re-posted the tweets because he found them to be, “intellectually and culturally interesting”.
He said: “I have not gone out and asked people to commit violence. It is implicated by virtue of my colour, my Arab and Palestinian identity, by racialisation that it is implied.”
Dr Abu-Sitta said he reposted the tweet congratulating Hamas to highlight that the “comrades” of a Marxist-Leninist organisation, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, was congratulating the “brothers” of Hamas, an Islamist organisation.
This was not done as an endorsement, he said, but to highlight the “contradiction” in the two groups’ approach, which was a matter of debate in Arab political culture, and would be “obvious” to anyone familiar with Arabic discourse.
“They are in a place where they can understand the nuances and the differences and these cultural references,” he said.
“Again, this is a dog-whistle by the UK Lawyers for Israel for racialised views of Arabic Palestinians. ‘They are inherently violent, they have got to mean violence.’”
Dr Abu-Sitta said he had no public profile until October 17 2023, when he was working at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza and survived a missile attack he claimed that killed 483 people. The cause and extent of the deadly explosion is disputed.
The doctor told the tribunal that afterwards he was interviewed by the world’s media and became a spokesman for Palestinians.
The rector of Glasgow University is elected by students only and the position is to represent the student body to the university governance.
He is not a member of university staff and does not speak for the university itself.
The hearing continues on Wednesday.