YUSU Officer resigns over anti-semitic allegations
Binitie has resigned as YUSU Racial Equality Officer
YUSU’s Racial and Equality Officer has resigned after a formal complaint by a York Labour Councillor was made against him regarding anti-Semitic comments; but has insisted that his remarks have been “decontextualised”.
Lawrence Binitie had been under pressure since he was accused of making anti-semitic comments during a Facebook chat conversation with David Levene, the Labour Councillor for the Heslington Ward.
Binitie described his disappointment and regret at resigning, stating that it is, “necessary because my position as an impartial arbiter of racial disputes has been blighted by the decontextualised disclosure of my private comments about the Palestinian bid for UN membership.”
He has given an “unreserved apology to anyone who took offense to the comments that I made in the conversation on Facebook,” adding that, “my words were clumsy and unwise, but no more.”
Levene, a former student at York, had made the complaint to YUSU over a Facebook conversation he had with the Racial and Equality Officer; in which Binitie, regarding Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the UN, said: “I would be ashamed, if I was from Israel or even Jewish to be associated with this.”
It culminated in Levene writing “Go to hell” and Binitie responding with, “that sounds like a typical Jewish response.”
Tim Ellis, YUSU President, was informed of Binitie’s resignation earlier this afternoon.
Basim Al-Ahmadi, who will now be undertaking the role of YUSU Racial and Equality Officer alone, commented that it was “unfortunate to lose a partner” but added that, “mistakes were made on both sides.”
“It will be a loss, Lawrence has done a lot of good and he is a decent guy. It has been a pleasure working with him”
Al-Ahmadi said that he thought it would have been better if the issue had been resolved in private: “I can understand that what was said could make him [Levene] uncomfortable, but I think it would have been more appropriate to handle it privately.”
He added that, “at every point he [Levene] has been taking it to the next level” citing the way Levene brought a drafted apology to the private meeting on Monday as how he “took it to another level.”
Mandi Madavo, last year’s YUSU Racial Equality Officer, had commented: “I think it’s unacceptable and very alarming that YUSU’s public representative responsible for speaking up for ethnic minorities is holding an entire ethnic group responsible for the political actions of a few members of that group.
“By definition, the word for that in general is racism, and in this case, the term for that is anti-Semitism.”
Binitie continued: “I cannot defend what I said to David, but I would like to assure everyone that the decontextualized screenshots are not an accurate reflection of my private views.
“I feel very strongly about the Israel-Palestine conflict, and was infuriated by aspects of the speech that I was listening to, because of this and the informal setting with David, I neglected to measure my words and I am sorry.”
The two parties met on Monday afternoon to try and resolve the issue in a closed door meeting with Tim Ellis; but at the time Binitie refused to resign after Levene brought with him a drafted apology he had written. Ellis stated that from his perspective, “I have spoken to Lawrence and he has handed in his resignation and written a letter of apology. While the situation is regrettable, we both felt that his position was untenable under the circumstances. The matter is now closed.”
Al-Ahmadi highlighted the need to make it clearer what is and isn’t acceptable for YUSU Officers to do on social networking sites: “I think the fact that it went from a private sphere to the public sphere sets a dangerous precedent – it was worrying.”
“Following on from the rugby incident on twitter, YUSU needs to outline the rules on social media,” adding that at the moment, “there is no clear guidance to follow.”
Jewish Society have released a statement in response to the events, saying though they “condemn the remarks…we are grateful for Binitie’s apology and regret that these events should have resulted in his resignation.
“Despite being a minority group on campus, we would expect that YUSU and its entire staff treat our society and its members with the same respect and tolerance granted to students of all other nationalities and faiths” they continued. “We believe that it is the personal right of every individual, Jewish or of any other faith, to criticise or support Israel’s actions, and we do not believe that Jews across the world should be held collectively responsible for actions of the Israeli government.”
Binitie added: “I would like to thank all those who have supported me through this troubling period, your kind words of understanding during this crisis have been invaluable to me.
“Specifically, I would like to thank YUSU President Tim Ellis for his guidance and impartial supervision of the process, and also York Sport President Sam Asfahani for suspending judgement and helping to get my side of the story across. I am touched by the amount of support I am getting from my friends, and even people I don’t know who have taken the debate online.”
In response to the announcement, Levene simply said: “”I respect Lawrence’s decision and regret that this matter needed to become public. Hopefully we can now all move on.”
17 responses below. Comments are open.
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So Levene has managed to force a YUSU officer out, for comments he made privately and in a personal capacity.
Does this now mean that Levene will resign over using as then current YUSU officers on his Labour council election leaflets?
It was said that they were speaking in a personal capacity, and thus would not be affecting the political neutrality of YUSU, yet here we have a YUSU officer forced out for a comment made in a personal capacity, and denied the right to a personal point of view.
Hypocritical much?
At least we can take from all of this that Levene will make a good career politician
Perhaps I should follow Binitie’s example.
Can’t believe Fox waited for Binitie to resign before he did. Clearly timing the announcement so as to bury bad news, the BBC have got a big decision to make regarding what to lead with at 10 o’clock…
I felt I should let the senior figure go first. It’s only polite after all!
Levene’s not come out of this looking good.
The term “slimy careerist busybody” comes to mind.
I wonder if such a fuss would have been made had Binitie’s comment been aimed at Palestinians or Arabs?
Agree with J 100%
I agree with J 100% as well. Totally, totally, totally right.
Oh, what a shame… A racist was forced to resign his position as a “racial equality officer”. Scandalous!
“Basim Al-Ahmadi, who will now be undertaking the role of YUSU Racial and Equality Officer alone”
Surely as he was elected as part of a pair, the resignation of one technically should equal the resignation of both?
As Basim said, this should have been resolved between the two, not elevated to this ridiculous level. Binititi’s words were poorly considered and he should have thought twice about posting to Levene, who was always bound to go straight to the papers, but he’s not a racist.
“A racist was forced to resign…”
Heavy words are so lightly thrown.
“Politically Incorrect says:
October 14, 2011 at 4:44 pm
I wonder if such a fuss would have been made had Binitie’s comment been aimed at Palestinians or Arabs?”
Yes, it absolutely would have been. I’m not Jewish, and I still find the comments massively offensive and irresponsible for someone in his position. I think that for anyone being told they should be ashamed to be associated with any group, they’d be more than entitled to act the way Levene did. I think if it had been someone Palestinian being told they should be ashamed to be associated with one particular Palestinian or group of Palestinians, they’d have been entitled to act the same way too, and if they’d brought it to attention, the student body would have responded the same way. Racism is racism, no matter who it’s directed at, and our university really isn’t as biased as you seem to be implying.
David Levene. Gone but never forgotten. And never liked.
“Basim Al-Ahmadi, who will now be undertaking the role of YUSU Racial and Equality Officer alone”
Surely as he was elected as part of a pair, the resignation of one technically should equal the resignation of both?
Your quite right here…. if one resigns they both have to… its not so much the person resigns but the office… so yer basim would have to restand alone and win to continue…. its in the constitution.
Defence Secretary is correct.
Pretty shambolic from YUSU ignoring their own constitution here.
Wasn’t Luke Sandford elected to ensure these procedures are adhered to? What exactly is his role if not to do those kind of things?
Also something you’d expect at least one full time office or staff member to pick up on…
Carelessness should be avoided at all costs. I hope Luke Sandford corrects this anomaly.