Amit Duvshani, an Israeli, has been rejected for a doctoral position at Oxford University in England. His qualifications in the subject matter don't seem to have been the issue, given the reply he received from the professor in charge of hiring, Dr. Andrew Wilkie. Dr. Wilkie unaplogetically stated in his letter his "huge problem" with Israelis taking "the moral high ground" from having suffered through the Holocaust, and under no circumstances would he hire someone who had "served in the Israeli army." The authenticity of the letter has not been confirmed, but neither has it been exposed as a hoax.
If, in fact, this email is genuine, then, given that all Israeli men and women over the age of 18 are required to serve in the Israeli military in some capacity, with exceptions made for Arab-Israelis and the more Orthodox Jews, what the good professor is saying is that he will under no circumstances hire a Jew from Israel. Which would seem to contradict Oxford University's Equal Opportunity Laws (the "racial" discrimination rules are broad enough to include "nationality" and "national origins"). I agree with the commenters on the LGF board, though, that the professor will suffer no ill-consequences of this blunt statement (other than having his email account flamed).
I haven't posted on the topic of anti-Semitism in the academy too much before, because (a) it's not closely related to standardized testing, and (b) other bloggers such as Meryl Yourish, Charles Johnson, Erin O'Connor already do a great job of reporting the rising tide of anti-Jewish, anti-Israel discrimination among allegedly "educated" and "enlightened" academics.
But occasionally I come across a story about someone so brazenly anti-Semitic that it takes my breath away, and this is one example. If Dr. Wilkie's understanding of pathological medicine is as flawed as his understanding of history and the Middle East, and as limited as his conceptions of honesty and fair play, then I pity any student of his.
Update: As commenter Allen G. notes, the power of the blogosphere is mighty to behold - Oxford has already issued a statement claiming that they do not condone Dr. Wilkie's actions, and have demanding his apology. But check out what the good professor (and, by association, Oxford) considers an "apology" for his blatantly anti-Semitic comments:
“I recognise and apologise for any distress caused by my e mail of 23 June and the wholly inappropriate expression of my personal opinions in that document. I was not speaking on behalf of Oxford University or any of its constituent parts. I entirely accept the University of Oxford’s Equal Opportunities and Race Equality policies.”
In other words - "I'm sorry you were upset by my words," not, "I'm sorry I said them." It's as though he's amazed to learn that a job applicant might take offense at being accused of genocide. And he'll abide by the university's policy, because he has to.
Or, as one LGF commenter brilliantly put it:
"I'm sorry that the guy I e-mailed knew how to forward my response."
Some apology.