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Roslyn Pine refuses offer to apologise for 'Islamophobic' comments after Board of Deputies suspension
She says: 'The Board's staff would prefer that people like me... be silenced'
December 10, 2018 15:52
She says: 'The Board's staff would prefer that people like me... be silenced'
December 10, 2018 15:52Roslyn Pine, who was suspended from the Board of Deputies for sharing "Islamophobic" and "anti-Arab" posts on social media, has refused to apologise despite an offer to shorten her ban if she did so.
Mrs Pine, who represented Finchley United Synagogue, was given a six year suspension from the Board in July, after sharing tweets describing Muslims as “the vilest of animals” and Arabs as “so evil”.
Last week, the JC revealed the Board was proposing amending the suspension so it would be reviewed after two years, on the condition that she publicly expressed remorse for her comments.
This followed an appeal against the original decision over whether the Board had the power to suspend Mrs Pine for that long.
On Monday, deputies were told the Board had officially offered her this, several hours after Mrs Pine wrote to all deputies to say she had “nothing to apologise for".
“For two decades I have defended Israel against the worst antisemites at countless meetings in unglamorous venues countrywide, one of just a handful of foot soldiers, as well as defending Israel and standing against antisemites in the press,” she told them.
“I had never seen or heard of any of our leaders who now claim to lead the fight against antisemitism, in all those years.
"They are Jonny-come-latelys, more interested in mixing with the great and the good, than in grass roots defence of Israel.
Mrs Pine had faced a previous disciplinary case over complaints that she referred to fellow deputies as “modern day Kapos”, as well as joking during a meeting that Sweden’s female foreign minister was “too old to be raped”.
In a letter outling its latest decision, the Board laid out its reasons for Mrs Pine’s suspension, describing her as having brought the organisation into disrepute.
It described previous times she had refused to apologise for her rhetoric, including last month, when she “was invited by the president to advise whether she had any apology that she wished to be taken into consideration.
“Mrs Pine’s reply did not include an apology, but a statement that she was ‘prepared to accept one from you [the President] in the context of an overall settlement, provided it is sincerely offered’.”
In her e-mail to deputies, Mrs Pine wrote: “The Board's staff would prefer that people like me, who advocate a different approach, be silenced. I doubt I will be the last deputy to be bullied in this fashion.
“It is not for the Board of Deputies to decide what Jews can and cannot say.
"The President has said we must respect each other and our diverse opinions. The contrived case against me, lacking in any evidence, for the purpose of silencing me, stands in direct contradiction to her dictum.”
Finchley United Synagogue commented on Mrs Pine's case for the first time this week, saying: "The board of management has been clear that we would not comment while the process was ongoing.
"Now it has been concluded, the board of management will be raising this urgently at our next meeting."
