"Biter" Cleared of Assault

Yesterday, a doctoral student at the School of Oriental and African Studies, who had been accused of biting a pro-Israel demonstrator on the cheek, was acquitted of assault.

The alleged attack took place on March 20th, last year, at an “Israel Apartheid Week” event at the SOAS campus in Central London. Mohamed Abdelkarim, a 44 year old Kuwaiti student and father of two, stood accused of biting Dean Gold on the cheek during a brawl, and knocking his camera out of his hand. Mr Abdelkarim argued that he had been acting in self-defence.

According to the Jewish Chronicle, District Judge James Henderson maintained that the witnesses for both defence and prosecution had been influenced in “what they saw and how they interpreted it” by personal politics.* Mr Abdelkarim, on the other hand, was “consistent and believable”. Judge Henderson, again quoted in the Jewish Chronicle, stated: “I cannot be sure that Mr Abdelkarim was not acting in self-defence. The prosecution have not achieved that.”

Gili Brenner, Executive of StandWithUs UK, commenting on the trial and the verdict, said: "As someone who was at the incident and a witness in the trial, this is a difficult day for me, Dean and the two other supporters. The decision not to convict the defendant despite compelling evidence is extremely worrying, especially as anti-Israel and Jewish sentiment is on the rise in the UK. Jews and supporters of Israel are entitled to expect that the law will uphold their right to be on campus without fear of intimidation or violence, and this ruling undermines that."

Initial charges against Mr Gold were dropped without trial.

*CORRECTION: The original sentence incorrectly stated that Judge Henderson identified only "the witnesses for the prosecution, three pro-Israel campaigners" as influenced by personal politics. Alondon apologizes for any misunderstanding this may have caused.