Jewish Labour MP's School Visit Cancelled After Pro-Palestine Protest
A Jewish Labour MP was forced to cancel a school visit following opposition by pro-Palestine teachers.
Damien Egan, the MP for Bristol North East, had been meant to visit Bristol Brunel Academy in September.
However, it was shelved over planned protests and threats by teachers to wear keffiyehs that day.
The campaign to block the MP’s visit was led by the Palestine Solidarity Committee and the National Education Union.
In a Facebook post on the day of the planned visit, the PSC’s Bristol branch wrote: “Victory for parents, teachers and the community.
“The planned school visit today by Damien Egan, MP for Bristol North East, has been cancelled after concerns were raised by the NEU trade union staff group, parents and local constituents.
“This is a clear message – politicians who openly support Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza are not welcome in our schools.”
The Times reported that a planned visit by Egan, who is vice-chairman of the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM), to a second school in the same trust was also abandoned for the same reason.
A source close to the MP told the paper: “It is a classic case of how far-left extremists and some members of the NEU try to silence and cancel people. It cannot be allowed to be the case that MPs cannot visit a local school because of a risk that teachers will protest and their safety endangered.”
Details of the row were first revealed by housing secretary Steve Reed at the JLM conference on Saturday.
He said: “It’s an absolute outrage that that could have possibly ever happened.”
The cabinet minister said those behind the campaign would be “held to account ... because you cannot have people with those kind of attitudes teaching our children”.
In a statement, Bristol Brunel Academy said: “On the evening before Mr Egan’s scheduled visit, we were made aware of plans for a public protest outside the school.
“As this protest was scheduled to coincide with the end in the school day, we opted to postpone Mr Egan’s visit to ensure everyone would continue to feel safe when entering and exiting school and to prevent any disruption to our students’ learning.
“We have remained in contact with Mr Egan, and an alternative date for his visit was arranged some time ago. We have also been in contact with the police and followed their advice.”