A professor from Ben Gurion University who was scheduled to participate in an event called Israel Palestine at the Imperial College's London's Student Union, backed out from attending the forum after discovering that one of the participants to take part in the event is a keen Hamas supporter who calls for Israe's destruction and supports suicide bombings.

Azzam Tamimi director of the Institute of Islamic Political Thought in London,is a well known critic of Israel and has blatantly called on a number of occasions for Israel's destruction. In an interview on the Iranian Press Tv a week ago, Tamimi said he wants to see Israel come to an end. In interviews in the past, Tamimi has said he himself would be willing to carry out a suicide bomb attack.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Professor David Newman who has been involved in many peace related activities wrote a letter to the college saying he believed there are many serious Palestinian academics who could have been invited to attend the forum, aside from Tamimi. "I am prepared to discuss, dialogue and debate with academics and scholars and even exchange difficult views and questions with people who hold vastly different views to my own, but given Tamimi's public declared support of suicide bombers and his volatile statements at various public events, I do not think that this is a person with whom I am prepared to share a platform," Newman said.

Also invited to attend the forum was the former UK consul general in Jerusalem Robin Kealy. Interestingly enough, Kealy did not refuse to attend the forum due to Tamimi's participation and failed to issue a statement condemning his presence. A sad day for the British diplomatic corps, one wonders if the British would have assumed a similar position had they been invited to attend a panel with members from northern Ireland.02/03/08