‘Fantastic victory for Palestine’: Terror supporter keeps job at British university

Shahd Abusalama, a supporter of the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine, has a history of antisemitic hate speech.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

A Palestinian associate lecturer has been cleared of charges of antisemitism and firmly secured her position in a British university after praising Palestinian terrorists last fall, The Jewish Chronicle reported Sunday.

Shahd Abusalama tweeted to her followers Thursday, “We’re celebrating a fantastic victory for Palestine today…. I have been wholly exonerated of the false charges of antisemitism.

“I will also be offered a more secure contract that will afford my employee status at Sheffield Hallam University.”

When six Palestinian terrorists escaped a high-security Israeli prison last September, Abusalama posted a picture of them on her Facebook page while calling them “heroes.” Among the six were several convicted of murdering Israelis.

Sheffield Hallam University then suspended her December appointment as associate lecturer, said the report, and ordered an investigation into the complaints of antisemitism that they had received as a result. Abusalama reacted by demanding that the university drop the investigation, apologize, “and put policies in place to ensure no Palestinian is subject to such malicious censorship.”

She was supported on February 2 by the Sheffield Hallam branch of the Universities and Colleges Union, which said in a statement that what the Gaza-born academic writes “fall[s] entirely within the boundaries of acceptable political commentary.” The university backed down the next day.

Without mentioning her name, a Sheffield Hallam University spokesperson said that Abusalama had been appointed associate lecturer following a “robust HR process” that had “consider[ed] the matters brought to our attention.” The school “upholds the principles of free speech and academic freedom,” and does “not tolerate discrimination or hate speech.”

Abusalama is a long-time supporter of Palestinian terrorism against Israel, said The JC. She joined an online celebration of the 46th anniversary of the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine in 2013 and praised individual terrorists in various posts during that time.

She has also expressed her hatred of Jews online. In 2012, she tweeted that “Zionist lobbies…buy presidents/slaves” and shared a video claiming that the Talmud allows Jews to “steal Palestinian land.”

“Must watch this video that tells the truth about #zionist #Jews. They take their legitimacy from #Talmud,” she wrote in the post.

In reaction to The JC report Saturday, which she called “hateful,” Abusalama tweeted, “These haters & bullies don’t know me or my family struggles or have any ability to empathize with the Palestinian suffering. This is because they know deep down they are oppressors, and they see our mere existence as a threat. But we continue to resist by existing!”