Academic showed students a swastika over an Israeli flag
Controversial senior lecturer Dr Tim Anderson is facing the possibility of being sacked from The University of Sydney after he showed students material featuring the Nazi swastika superimposed over the flag of Israel.
Dr Anderson accused his employer in a recent Facebook post of “political censorship”, and said he is appealing the decision to fire him. He has dismissed complaints levelled against him over the past two years as “petty and absurd”.
“This move is the culmination of a series of failed attempts by management to restrict my public comments,” Dr Anderson wrote. “I have always rejected such censorship.”
Sydney University provost and acting vice-chancellor Stephen Garton rejected Dr Anderson’s accusations of political censorship.
In a letter addressed by Garton to Anderson, shared with Anderson’s Facebook post, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor explains that Anderson was in breach of his contract of employment and several University policies through the distribution of certain lecture materials. Garton’s letter goes on to explain that Anderson’s use of the image was deemed particularly regrettable given it was available for download on Canva, was shared from his personal Twitter and Facebook account, as well as the Centre for counter Hegemonic Studies website – independent to the University of Sydney. The Centre for Counter-Hegemonic Studies is a network of like-minded academics who disparage Western imperialism and claim to be the victim of censorship at their respective universities.
Dr Anderson has attracted criticism from various federal education ministers for his numerous trips to Syria and North Korea, where he has expressed his solidarity with their dictatorial regimes while condemning Western imperialism, and the United States.
He has been known to post regularly on social media about the crimes of the “apartheid” Israeli state, complained that the mainstream media was complicit in distorting the narrative about Israel and Palestine, and has made statements which actively support the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad.
A spokeswoman for the university confirmed Dr Anderson had been served a termination notice as he had engaged in “serious misconduct”.
The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies President Lesli Berger commented: “We commend the University of Sydney for its firm and decisive response to what has been an outrageous spate of offensive incidents. No Australian university should permit such bigotry on its campus.”
Anderson has now been suspended with pay, banned from entering campus, and will be called before the Review Committee later this month to determine whether he will ultimately have his employment terminated.
High time this anti Semitic ratbag was given his marching orders.
He has a long history of this type of behaviour.