‘Repulsive’ anti-Israel group protests against fallen UK-Israeli soldier’s father

The behaviour of anti-Israel students at Leeds University has been described as “staggering and repulsive” by the Union of Jewish Students, after the “Leeds Students Against Apartheid Coalition” group organised a protest against the visit of the father of a fallen British-Israeli soldier, describing the 20 year old, killed by Hamas, as “a war criminal who committed genocide in the Gaza Strip”.

Sergeant Yisrael Natan Rosenfeld, who grew up in Hendon, North West London, was serving in the IDF’s 601st Combat Engineering Battalion when he was killed by an explosive device in June. His father, Avi, is currently visiting the UK, speaking to Jewish communities around the country about his family’s loss.

A post from the Leeds Students Against Apartheid Coalition (LSAAC), also known as “Leeds Students 4 Palestine” showed a picture of Sergeant Rosenfeld with his father, featuring the red triangle of Hamas in the background, titled “War Criminals of [sic] our Campus”. It described Sergeant Rosenfeld as “a war criminal who committed genocide in the Gaza Strip”.

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The statement from the anti-Israel group accompanying the picture claimed that “After over two years of a genocide that our University has supported through its partnerships with weapon manufacturers, the University now sees it fit to allow the criminals who had a hand in committing this genocide to roam our campus, and give a talk about loss! As if the loss of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians isn’t important to them.”

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Louis Danker, President of UJS, said:

“Leeds Students Against Apartheid Coalition throw around the term ‘war criminal’. Meanwhile, they explicitly endorse Hamas and 7 October, eulogise Yahya Sinwar, and celebrate the successful holding of Israeli hostages. The irony is staggering and repulsive.”

In May of this year, LSAAC backed “armed resistance”, urged supporters to lay siege to offices linked to what it described as “the Zionist genocidal project”, and called for what it described as “global escalation”. In September, hours after a terror attack in Jerusalem, LSAAC posted a string of images glorifying the attack.

As revealed by the Electronic Uprising social media account, a fundraiser held by LSAAC last year appears to have resulted in at least half a dozen academics at Leeds University making donations to the organisation, including lecturers and PhD researchers.

Simon Myerson, Chair of the Leeds Jewish Representative Council, said:

“The fact that anyone – still less students who preen themselves about their empathy – could think to organise a demonstration against a grieving parent is a comment on their stupidity, wickedness, and teaching. If any of them are actually students at Leeds university – which historically is not always the case – then the university should dismiss them instantly. Not because they are exercising free speech, but because they lack the capacity to learn. Their places would be better given to brighter applicants who would genuinely value the university experience.

“Fortunately, the demonstration will be well away from any meeting, because this group will not dare to stray onto the public thoroughfare, where they would be arrested. Questions of why Leeds university would even dream of tolerating and act which in fringes the public sector equality duty, common decency, and its own declared objectives would, I suggest, be best directed to the governing body.”