Protesters are set to descend on Cupar Sheriff Court today as a student convicted of defiling an Israeli flag is sentenced.
Paul Donnachie rubbed his hands on his genitals before wiping them on the flag, which belonged to Jewish exchange student Chanan Reitblat (21).
The 19-year-old was immediately expelled from St Andrews University after being found guilty of the racially-aggravated offence last month (link).
Mr Reitblat, who fled Communist Lithuania as a child to escape “severe Jewish oppression,” said he was left feeling “utterly violated.”
However, the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) has branded the conviction “ludicrous” and pledged to express its disgust at the court.
Its chairman Mick Napier said Donnachie’s actions represented a legitimate form of political protest. The conviction, the group insists, has undermined his right to freedom of political expression.
“The sheriff (Charles Macnair) violated every canon of fairness and balance,” said Mr Napier. “He at least partly based his guilty verdict on his mistaken characterisation of the complainer, Jewish- American Chanan Reitblat, as a ‘member of Israel.’ To say he was confused would be an understatement.”
Donnachie himself said: “Disrespecting the flag is a time-honoured method of expressing one’s disapproval with the actions of a state … This was a political statement and not a statement about one individual.”
He will be sentenced today but, whatever the outcome, plans to appeal the conviction.
“This was a case of freedom of expression and certainly not in any way racial,” he said. “I will appeal this ridiculous conviction and take it as far as I can.
“The right to criticise Israel, or any state, is very important. I do not believe my actions were in any way racial.”
The conviction has also angered Scottish Jews for a Just Peace.
The group is angry that “expert witnesses” from the organisation were barred from giving evidence during the trial.
“We are concerned that the sheriff did not allow Jewish witnesses for the defence to be called to give evidence regarding the crucial distinction between Zionism a political position of support for a Jewish state in Israel/ Palestine and Jewishness, a person’s religion or ethnicity,” a spokeswoman said.
“It would appear that Paul Donnachie’s protest was directed not against Chanan Reitblat as a Jew or indeed as a person, but against the political view that he espoused. We condemn the way that the sheriff’s decision confuses the legitimate right to criticise the state of Israel with racism, and conflates Jewishness with support for Israel.
“Criticism of the political concept of basing a state around a single religious or ethnic group or of the actions of the Israeli state is wholly legitimate,” she added. “And the ability to criticise a political position or a national government is a basic freedom that must be guarded tenaciously.”
Mr Reitblat is well aware of the controversy caused by the case. But he insists the decision to convict Donnachie of a racially-aggravated offence was correct.
He had been given the flag by his brother, a member of the Israeli Defence Force, and had pinned it to the wall in his halls of residence.
“My privacy was invaded in a shocking way,” he said. “I am Jewish … and Israel is an important part of my religious belief. He attacked my beliefs and the behaviour toward me and my property was humiliating.”