Sorbonne launches investigation after alleged anti-Semitic tweet by student
The management of Paris-Sorbonne University announced yesterday that it had launched an investigation after an alleged anti-Semitic tweet by a student.
On Twitter, a person named Hakim Abdi wrote in this tweet (including spelling errors), which has since been deleted: “I call for the destruction of the Zionist entity, not this pseudo-state of terrorists and Nazis. Full support for Palestine and Hamas, as well as all pro-Palestinian resistance groups, the struggle continues in harmony. »
Julien Bahloul, a French-Israeli living in Tel Aviv and a commentator on Israeli society on Twitter, who has about 60,000 followers, was quick to share the message.
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“Hi @LettresSorbonne, one of your students defends an Islamist group recognized as terrorist by France and the EU and calls for the destruction of the state of Israel, are you planning to issue a sanction decision? Or is Islamist propaganda allowed in your country? “, he wrote in defiance of the University of Paris-Sorbonne, Hakim Abdi, “French and European citizen of Muslim faith, but also Moroccan”, says on his Twitter profile, where he studied.
The latter has since posted a series of more moderate tweets in which he tried to explain his message and asked Julien Bahloul to retract his message.
Hello @Sorbonne letters, if one of your students defends an Islamist group recognized as a terrorist by France and the EU and calls for the destruction of the state of Israel, are you going to impose sanctions? Or is Islamist propaganda allowed in your country? pic.twitter.com/pVtqWd4Moo
— Julien Bahloul (@julienbahloul) November 28, 2022
“Hi @julienbahloul we know that I am not in this tweet endorsing Hamas or of course I wanted to show my support for Palestine and its resistance. I note that I have deleted my tweet to avoid any misunderstanding,” he said. “I wanted to clarify that when I spoke about the destruction of the Zionist entity, I was talking about the institution and the Zionist policy, I am not calling for murder in any way. It was, let’s say, an awkwardness and I just I wanted to condemn Zionist totalitarian terrorism. I do not accept the actions of Hamas in any way. I am not a supporter of Hamas. I wanted to show my support for the Palestinian people and Palestine by supporting the fight against Zionist imperialism. Yes to peace!”
The man also “apologized”: “In any case, if I hit people, I wanted to apologize, know that I didn’t want that. I just wanted to show my support for the Palestinian people. Really, I’m just condemning Zionist terrorism against Palestine, can’t we say anything other than what I see? »
The tweets came after the Sorbonne still announced on Twitter that an investigation had begun.
“Sorbonne University strongly condemns any incitement to hatred, violence and discrimination. The words of this student belong only to him and do not correspond in any way to the values of the university that decided to open an investigation,” the Paris organization wrote.
Julien Bahloul was very happy with this answer.
This morning I reported to La Sorbonne-Paris4 a tweet by one of its students praising an Islamist group designated as terrorists by France and calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.
The university announced this evening that it would launch an investigation.
Let nothing pass. pic.twitter.com/NgjSG03u0q
— Julien Bahloul (@julienbahloul) November 28, 2022
In 2015, a Kuwaiti intern working at the French Embassy in the United States, a student at Sciences Po Paris, was fired after he was accused of posting anti-Semitic posts on Facebook. He was also expelled from the University of Paris, then condemned by the Paris Tribunal de Grande the following year.
