Oxford scientist Andrew Wilkie sent this e-mail refusing to accept an application from an Israeli student for a position in Wilkie's laboratory, solely because the student was Israeli.
Oxford responded by announcing an "investigation" and released Wilkie's "personal apology":
“I recognise and apologise for any distress caused by my e mail of 23 June and the wholly inappropriate expression of my personal opinions in that document. I was not speaking on behalf of Oxford University or any of its constituent parts. I entirely accept the University of Oxford’s Equal Opportunities and Race Equality policies.”That's not much of an apology. It's clear that the Israeli student, Amit Duvshani, is not welcome in Wilkie's laboratory. Would this type of ethnic discrimination be tolerated if Duvshani were, say, black or Arab? I would hope not, and I doubt that it would be. But it seems to be politically correct in some circles to discriminate against individual Israelis and to try to deprive them of their livelihood.
Wilkie's laboratory does research on certain kinds of birth defects, presumably with the goal of preventing them. I don't know whether Duvshani's track record would rightfully qualify him for a position in Wilkie's laboratory. But if he were a talented researcher, wouldn't it be a shame to deny these afflicted children the chance to benefit from Duvshani's research on their impairment?
Andrew Wilkie will be attending a conference in Los Angeles next January. If I were in L.A. I would stop by the conference to have a one-on-one chat with Andrew Wilkie. I would let him know that he is more welcome in L.A. than Israelis are welcome in his laboratory; I would explain the history of Israel's rebuffed attempts to make peace with its neighbors; I would also thank Wilkie for his important research and remind him that keeping qualified scientists out of his laboratory for stupid reasons won't lead to any new discoveries.
UPDATE I've been contemplating whether the suggestion to have a polite chat with Andrew Wilkie is too tepid a response to his bigotry. Would I expect it to persuade him that he made a mistake? Probably not, although I would like to think that it might. After all, he wasn't born hating Israelis, it's a position that he adopted after absorbing information about Israel. Perhaps he would change his mind after learning more about Israel's history. But the message is aimed not only at him, but at others, to demonstrate that the pro-Israel side is reasonable and constructive, while those who feel righteous in their opposition to Israel are foolish and destructive. If Wilkie held a different kind of job I might just say "fire the bastard". But he does important work that may help reduce someone else's suffering and as a researcher he is not fungible. Of course he should continue with his work. But only as a staff scientist in somebody else's lab. He has already proven himself to be reckless in making hiring decisions and that portion of his responsibilities should be taken away from him.
Roger Simon and Stephen Rittenberg also comment on Wilkie.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at June 27, 2003 06:15 PMYes, his responsibilities for personnel selection should be taken away. However, I don't think this goes far enough. There are many subtle ways that a senior person can influence the career of a junior person, even if the senior person has no managerial responsibility, and in this case he has already demonstrated his willingness to do career harm to an individual based on their nationality.
If I were running his department at Oxford, I wouldn't want a person who makes decisions about the use of organizational resources based on his personal political opinions. I'd terminate him.
Posted by: David Foster on June 28, 2003 07:20 AMOxford has rules in place for non-discriminatory hiring. I presume there are prescribed punishments for those who violate the rules. Now we can only hope they are enforced. Even if the punishment is mild, the guy has gotten enough international negative publicity to last him a lifetime.
Posted by: Yehudit on June 30, 2003 03:23 AMIt's been noticed that Boycotting Jewish scientists may be hazardous to your health.
Posted by: Yehudit on June 30, 2003 03:25 AMWilkie is getting 'his' over at LittleGreenFootballs.com
He should be sacked and blackballed from teaching. He is biased and twisted,I wouldn't want him teaching my children.
Suppose an Israeli child comes for treatment to an Oxford institution headed by Prof. Wilkie. Will be treated like Amit Duvshani?
People in Britain should know that Israeli professors accept arab students. In my depertment at Weizmann, there are two Palestinian students from Hebron and Bethlehem, from where suicide bombers have been sent to blow up buses and supermerkets. Even so, they enjoy the same rights as any Israeli student.
Posted by: Ernesto Joselevich on June 30, 2003 11:59 PMThe bio-medical field is very competitive
and at any given moment has an excess of
highly-qualified researchers.
Firing this odious proponent of making Oxford again Judenfrei -- as it was for most of its history up to the beginning of the 20th Century --will in no way affect the medical progress.
OTOH, leaving him be will certainly retard the medical effort at Oxford, for who knows how many
ethical people world over will decline to collaborate or support financially that racist refuge.
Thanks for enlightening me on this issue. Your comments seem to me to be both moderate and reasoned. I am afraid that in the climate of antisemitism (I do not mean anti-Israeli feeling) engendered by, for example, the BBC, such actions as those of Wilkie are becoming more frequent and more tolerated by the UK academic community.
Allan Solomon
Open University
We must remember that it is not because he is Israeli that his application is rejected, nor the fact that he is Jewish, but the contention professor wilkie has, is the fact that he was for three years part of the Israeli army.
Accepting an application from a person who has, for three years been part of one of the most tyranical armies ever to occupy another nations land is good enough for me.
Lets not try and compare it with Israels university policy of accepting applications from palestinians. the question is would the university accept application from palestinians if they had been previousley part of HAMAS or JIHAD for three years ?
lets not jump to conclucsions with regards to professor wilkie without knowing his intentions and the full facts upon which he based his decision.
We must remember that it is not because he is Israeli that his application is rejected, nor the fact that he is Jewish, but the contention professor wilkie has, is the fact that he was for three years part of the Israeli army.
Accepting an application from a person who has, for three years been part of one of the most tyranical armies ever to occupy another nations land is good enough for me.
Lets not try and compare it with Israels university policy of accepting applications from palestinians. the question is would the university accept application from palestinians if they had been previousley part of HAMAS or JIHAD for three years ?
lets not jump to conclucsions with regards to professor wilkie without knowing his intentions and the full facts upon which he based his decision.
Adam Selig -
You can't be serious. Serving in the IDF is the same as being a Hamas terrorist?
Puhleeeeze........
Posted by: Li'l Mamzer on July 1, 2003 07:24 AMEvery Israeli has to serve 3 years in the Israeli Army. Boycotting Israelis on the basis of their service in the army is synonimous with boycotting half of the the entire World's Jewish population.
Does Prof Wilkie understand that?
Posted by: Ron Reggev on July 1, 2003 08:35 PMWhile your suggestion to have a chat with the good doctor Wilkes has the ring of civility about it, I have no doubt you would be wasting your time. I'm sure Wilkes knows all the history he needs to know. And while you may think his work is so important the world cannot get along as well without him, I think the harm he does as a highly placed antisemite far outweighs any benefit his work might bring. Count me among the "fire the bastard" group.
Posted by: Ronald Gans on July 2, 2003 03:03 PMProf Wilkie is nothing more and nothing less than an anti-semite- the kind that were very prevalent during England's occupation of Palestine.
Unfortunately, these same anti-semitic Englishmen seem to still exist.They disguise themselves as being anti-Israel rather than anti-semitic.
Wilkie is also ignorant of many of the factors surrouding the present conflict.
May I also ask him, what about the thousands of Jews who were expelled, killed and tortured in Arab Lands?
Prof Wilkie has a PhD in molecular biology, not Middle Eastern Studies. Perhaps he should just stick to what he knows and what he does best and leave informed commentary about the Arab-Israeli conflict to those who actually understand the issues.
Hey Selig, you have no idea how civil the Israeli army is....what other modern western army would fight house-to-house to root out terrorists and murderers suffering almost 1:1 loses? Israel could have easily levelled Jenin and killed thousands. Like Wilkie, stick to what you know, not what you feel.
Let's have Prof Wilkie debate Prof Bernard Lewis!
Posted by: D. Brown on July 6, 2003 05:50 AMD. Brown, is dropping a one ton bomb on a community and killing civilians different than someone strapping a bomb to themselves and killing civilians? Why is only Israel allowed to have credibility in their fight for the middle east and any opposition force labeled as terrorists?
Posted by: JDL on July 8, 2003 09:48 AM