A former PhD student at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK who was accused in an anonymous complaint of antisemitism was granted a faculty role at the school after she was vetted, according to a report in The Jewish Chronicle.
The student, Shahd Abusalama, is active on Twitter, where she has posted numerous statements lambasting Israel for its treatment of Palestinians and opposing the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which some critics claim blurs the lines between hatred of Jews and legitimate opposition to Israeli government policies. Abusalama's bio on the social media site includes the hashtag #OneState, an apparent reference to a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Abusalama has previously praised terrorists, including Kozo Okamoto, a member of the Japanese Red Army who shot and killed 26 Israeli civilians at an airport in 1971, as well as six prisoners who escaped from Gilboa Prison, one of whom, Zakaria Zubeidi, was charged with perpetrating two shootings on buses in the West Bank in 2019, the JC report read. Absalama reportedly called Okamoto a "freedom fighter" on her blog and described the Gilboa inmates as "heroes."
After Abusalama was appointed an associate lecturer at Sheffield Hallam, the university opened an investigation into her background, the report added.
Abusalama urged her Twitter followers to protest against the university's decision to investigate her and call for a "moratorium" of the IHRA definition of antisemitism. On February 2, the university's branch of the Universities and Colleges Union passed a motion in support of the former student and said that her activism was "entirely within the boundaries of acceptable political commentary," according to the report.
According to The Palestine Chronicle, Absalama said she had not yet seen the accusations against her that prompted the university's investigation and the identity of the complainant was not released to the public.