Thread by @RachelMoiselle

Hey all.

Something deeply upsetting has happened.

A complaint was lodged against me by a lecturer in Trinity as per a tweet of mine in May that I’ve long since deleted (to my knowledge because I can’t find it). This lecturer blocked me despite us never interacting. Not once.

He said in the complaint that this is because ‘I try my best to steer clear of “Zionists” online’.

The complaint centres around the fact that I said in my tweet that he had endorsed October 7th.

Also the fact that I said this was a ‘moral depravity’ and that the student who informed me of this was also appalled at this ‘moral depravity’.

The ‘endorsement’ I spoke of was retweeting the tweet below. I have cut off the OP and the lecturer’s name showing he retweeted it.

I put it to the public here whether retweeting ‘resistance is the right of occupied people’ on the day a massacre occurred is or isn’t an endorsement of said massacre.

The lecturer said that ‘the tweets appear to be part of an online bullying against me…

…that supporters of Israel have been engaging in’.

I have publicly stated in a published article I do not identity as ‘pro Israel’ because that implies being ‘anti’ Palestinian, which I categorically am not.

My only purpose in my advocacy is combatting antisemitism.

The tweet he retweeted is under the auspices of this given it was in reference to the most deadly single-day massacre of Jews since the Shoah.

I never imagined my advocacy would result in the platform I currently have. Ever.

I am an introverted PhD student in sign linguistics.

Every PhD student/graduate knows how tough undertaking a PhD is at the best of times.

The strain of this has been infinitely multiplied as I have been unintentionally thrust into an unplanned advocacy role in the public domain.

One I feel morally compelled to continue doing.

This advocacy has resulted in torrents of abuse and harassment directed at me.

Notably, as a young woman, this has included an incredible amount of sexual harassment and abuse in my comments and DMs: the vast majority of which I do not publicise and just privately deal with.

I am disillusioned by Trinity-the college I once loved-and how it has enabled antisemitism to become normalised into campus.

I am also disillusioned and frankly heartbroken by the people with whom I have worked and studied for the last decade.

They know me and my intentions.

They know I am introverted and unassuming. I would be confident in saying that they would regard me as kind.

But they have not supported me in the face of this abuse in the way that I have supported their causes. I spent two years working for nonprofit disability organisation.

My current area of study, which focuses on sign linguistics, is intended to be of practical benefit to the Deaf community.

In my professional pursuits I have focused on endeavours to try make the world a better place. Rather than choosing pursuits more financially lucrative.

Combatting hatred and discrimination, including antisemitism, is part of this same urge: trying to make the world a better place.

I have tried my utmost to listen to Palestinian perspectives and voices and have been clear about the need for a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

Because part of making the world a better place is fighting for Palestinian rights/safety.

But this cannot include callousness, derision, or ‘endorsement’ of a massacre. I don’t know how morality has been so skewed in academia that the lecturer who expresses such callousness…

is inverted as righteous, whereas the lowly student who calls this out is the villain in this scenario: engaging in ‘online bullying’.

I am deeply upset by this development.

I have never so much as failed an exam. I can’t believe such a complaint has been lodged against me.