Last month, Ph.D. candidate at Sheffield Hallam University Shahd Abusalama announced being offered a teaching position at her department. However, she later announced losing the opportunity following an online campaign by pro-Israel social media accounts that accused her of antisemitism.
British University of @sheffhallamuni has suspended the Palestinian @ShahdAbusalama from teaching amid a smear campaign by #Israel|i lobby.
— Zaina Erhaim (@ZainaErhaim) January 23, 2022
Days ago Shahd was celebrating submitting PhD dissertation on historic representations of #Palestine.
✊🏽✊🏽sister. pic.twitter.com/cPvfakkwEb
According to her social media accounts, Shahd Abusalama who moved from the Gaza Strip to the UK for studies in September 2014, has been preparing her Ph.D. focusing on the historical narrative of Palestinian anti-colonial struggle and the self-representation of Palestinian culture and identity.
For the past 8 years, she has been quite an outspoken political activist and commentator, writing for several publications, advocating for Palestinians, and highlighting Israeli violations over the years.
For more context, read my @jadaliyya article protesting a previous Zionist wave of hatred when #BoycottEurovision campaign videos went viral. The same cheap outlets are renewing attacks, dismissing my lived experience of Israeli terror & my response. https://t.co/5FuSnsTiPS
— ShahdAbusalama (@ShahdAbusalama) January 19, 2022
Shahd has written several anecdotes of her life as a Palestinian living under Israeli occupation, particularly her experiences during the Israeli military operation in Gaza in July 2014.
However, last week Shahd Abusalama alerted her online followers that she was being "cyberbullied" by Israeli online users over her activism, which has been smeared as "antisemitism."
Once again, the UK's pro-apartheid lobby launches a smear campaign against an anti-racist uni lecturer & a university administration is once again complicit w/ racist censorship.
— David Álvarez (@David_Alvarez65) January 23, 2022
I support @ShahdAbusalama & I call on @sheffhallamuni to reject apartheid & reverse its decision. https://t.co/oKRACi0JAX
Online people have been posting in support of Shahd Abusalama, saying that the defamation campaign against her resembles many others that have been launched in recent years, in attempts to silence voices critical of Israeli policies against Palestinians, and urging the Sheffield Hallam University to reconsider their decision of suspending her from teaching.
