A senior lecturer at the University of Sydney was canned on Feb. 11 for showing a lecture slide in class that featured an image of the Israeli flag with a swastika on it.
The lecturer, Tim Anderson, was suspended in December over the “Human Rights and Development” course slide, which he shared on Facebook at the time and defended it:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10216102321523747&set=a.10200803926633436&type=3&theater
The swastika can be seen cropped onto the Israeli flag on the lefthand side of the image:
As part of his suspension, Anderson was required to show why he shouldn’t be fired for his actions; an employment review panel ruled against him by a 2-1 margin.
“We will continue to defend the right of our academic staff to express unpopular views as part of their teaching and research, and recognize this as a vital part of the academic process,” Provost Stephen Garton told the Sydney Morning Herald. “At the same time, staff must also meet their obligation to engage in debate in a civil manner, and in accordance with our policies and codes of conduct.”
Peter Wertheim, the co-chief executive officer of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, told J-Wire that the university “did the right thing,” arguing that Anderson’s comparison of Israel to the Nazis falls under the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism.
“Anderson is entitled to his own outlandish views, but he does not have the right to impose them on students, or to compromise the reputation of the University and its wider academic community for maintaining high intellectual standards,” Wertheim said.
Anderson defended himself on Facebook, writing, “I maintain that comparisons of fascist states are completely legitimate.”
