Terror-supporting professor ‘no longer employed’ by British university

A university official confirmed that Professor Abusalama, who had initially been cleared of wrongdoing, has left the institution.

By World Israel News Staff

A Gaza-born professor who met with a notorious Palestinian hijacker and publicly supported terrorists who murdered Israelis is no longer employed by a British university. An initial probe into her statements had cleared her of wrongdoing.

In February 2022, The Jewish Chronicle reported that Dr. Shahd Abusalama, who was then a lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, was investigated by the institution after numerous complaints regarding her pro-terror and antisemitic statements.

Initially, Abusalama was allowed to continue working for the university, but a second complaint about antisemitism from a Jewish student led to a new investigation.

While the results of the second probe have not been made public, a university official told the JC that Abusalama has left the institution.

She “is no longer an employee of the university. She’s not worked for us for a number of months,” Sheffield Hallam’s deputy vice chancellor, Richard Calvert, said.

He added that due to confidentiality restrictions, he could not reveal further information about the circumstances of Abusalama’s departure.

Abusalama did not respond to a request for comment from the JC.

On social media, Abusalama alleged that “Zionist lobbies buy presidents” and claimed that a Hamas-supporting student union leader ousted due to her antisemitic statements was a victim of an “Israel lobby coup.”

The professor met with Leila Khaled in 2020, calling her “a symbol of the Palestinian revolution in her glory, hijacking airplanes and shaking the Zionist entity and the world.”

Additionally, Abusalama praised Dalal Mughrabi, a Palestinian terrorist who participated in the 1978 murder of 38 people on a bus, including 13 children.

Abusalama said that Mugrhabi “managed to establish a republic of Palestine in a bus, and their republic lasted four hours. It doesn’t matter how long this republic lasted, the important thing is that it was established.”

The JC also revealed that Abusalama’s father was a member of the PFLP terror group who spent 15 years in Israeli prison for his participation in a terror bombing.

However, the February 2022 probe by the university found that there was insufficient evidence to terminate Abusalama’s employment with the institution.

Abusalama announced on social media at the time that she had been “wholly exonerated of the false charges of antisemitism, brought under the not-fit-for-purpose IHRA [International Holocaust Remembrance Association] definition.