Dr. Tamimi is the director of the Institute of Islamic Political Thought and a regular contributor to Al-Jazeera and the Guardian. Accusations of anti-Semitism have led to concerns from the Jewish community.
In an interview with BBC News 24 HARDtalk, Tamimi described sacrificing his life for Palestinian justice as “a noble cause. It is the straight way to pleasing my God and I would do it if I had the opportunity.”
The Daily Mail reacted to this quote, reporting, “A British-based Muslim radical appeared to back suicide bombing yesterday when he claimed that dying for your beliefs was ‘just’.” Dr Tamimi responded in the Guardian, stating that, “martyrdom is dying for justice and peace…not blowing oneself up killing innocent people.”
Alex Goodman, of the Manchester Jewish Society (MJS), said: “MJS is concerned about the welfare of all students on campus and seek safety for all and freedom from extremism and hate speech. We sincerely hope that this event will not be a forum for hate.”
“If anything racist or hate inciting was said, we would intervene.” said Tom Fairhurst, Communications Officer at the UMSU. “It is clearly illegal, and against our policy and we would not hesitate to intervene. But before anything is said we have to respect our values of free speech.”
Fairhurst added: “If students are concerned, we will put more security in place.”
Also speaking at the conference will be Ismail Patel, a graduate from the University of Manchester and founder of the NGO, Friends of Al-Aqsa. The organisation is concerned with human rights in Palestine. Yet, he has been accused of supporting terrorism by defending Hamas. In a demonstration on January 10, 2009, Patel said: “Hamas is no terrorist organisation. The reason they hate Hamas is because they refuse to be subjugated, occupied by the Israeli state, and we salute Hamas for standing up to Israel.”
The event takes place on February 13 at University Place and is hosted by the USMU Islamic Society.
A University of Manchester spokesperson said: “The University is fundamentally committed to ensuring freedom of speech within the law.
“This particular event has been organised by a recognised Students’ Union society and hosted by the Students’ Union, rather than the University itself. As necessary, the University seeks assurances from the student society and the Students’ Union that the event will be conducted in an orderly fashion and that all the speakers will respect the laws of the land.”
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