A contract teacher at the Toulouse School of Economics (TSE) was suspended as a precautionary measure after speaking about the situation in the Middle East in a mathematics class on Tuesday, September 3.
In the introduction to his course, Benoît Huou spoke for several minutes about a text published in “the international reference journal in terms of health”, The Lancetwhich, on July 5, had estimated at “nearly 200,000 dead” the number of deaths among Palestinians from Israeli army attacks since the end of 2023.
“Everyone goes through it, from children to the elderly, in my lifetime, I’m 35, I’ve never experienced such carnage, such a one-sided war”the teacher said in front of 200 students, according to a recording broadcast on the X network by the pro-Israel account Sword of Salomon, which had made a “reporting”.
Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers Pro-Palestine mobilization: students and researchers ask French universities to take a stand
Add to your selections
“The situation did not start on October 7, and it is dishonest to say that Hamas is responsible for what is happening now.”continued Benoît Huou, calling for a boycott of Israel. “I don’t want to talk about what happened on October 7, but nothing, absolutely nothing justifies massacring a civilian population as is happening now.”added the teacher while denouncing “tacit support” of the French government.
“Nauseating Amalgams”
The school’s director, economist Christian Gollier, announced the suspension of Benoît Huou the day after the events, on X. “Made in a professional context by a public official with no connection to the subject taught, these remarks contravene the obligation of reserve in force in the public service.he explains. TSE is an open place for sharing knowledge in social sciences. This file will be examined in depth in the coming weeks as part of the disciplinary processes in force.
The Minister of Higher Education and Research, Sylvie Retailleau, recalled for her part, still on X, that “The role of higher education is to build a better society,” “to combat anti-Semitism and all forms of discrimination”, “to fight against fake news and nauseating amalgams”et “to act against hatred and to support all its victims”.
On the substance, the text published in The Lancet does not correspond to a journalistic article but to a ” letter “that is, a contribution from readers. The journal explains that this is “reflections” of readers on “content published in “The Lancet” or on other topics of interest to our readers” Who “are not generally peer-reviewed”.
You have 51.06% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
