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On September 3, Benoît Huou, professor of mathematics at this prestigious school in Toulouse, called for a boycott of Israel in front of 200 students. After four months of suspension, the teacher will be reinstated at the start of the school year.
After his controversial comments on the war in the Middle East, the professional future of Benoît Huou, teacher at the Toulouse School of Economics, was uncertain. This contract worker will finally return after four months of suspension. The decision of the disciplinary commission of this prestigious school was notified to him last week. “Our comrade Benoît Huou had the verdict […] : a call to order. He will therefore be reinstated for the second semester, at the start of the school year in January. We are delighted with this verdict, even if there was no reason to hold a disciplinary commission. Being moved by a massacre in progress should not be repressed. Support for Palestine must not be criminalized,” reacts SUD Education 31, its union.
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Contacted, the chief of staff of TSE, Joël Echevarria, indicates that as long as the mathematics professor has not acknowledged receipt of notification of the result of the disciplinary commission, “no comments will be made”.
“I have never experienced such butchery”
On September 3, Benoît Huou began his lecture by citing a letter published in the medical journal “The Lancet”, which estimated, at the beginning of July, the number of Palestinians who died under the blows of the Israeli army at 186,000. “Everyone goes through it, from children to the elderly. In my lifetime – I am 35 years old – I have never experienced such butchery, such a one-sided war,” he declared the teacher in front of two hundred students.
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The contractor said that the war in the Middle East “did not start on October 7, and it is dishonest to say that the person responsible for what is happening now is Hamas.” “I do not want to talk about what happened on October 7, but nothing, absolutely nothing justifies massacring a civilian population as is happening.”
Benoît Huou also called for a boycott of Israeli products – which is illegal – and invited his students to participate in “support initiatives” in favor of Palestine, such as demonstrations.
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The pro-Israel account Sword of Salomon published this exchange on X (formerly Twitter). The Minister of Higher Education and Research at the time, Sylvie Retailleau, recalled that “the role of higher education is to build a better society, to combat anti-Semitism and all forms of discrimination”, and “ to fight against fake news and nauseating amalgamations.”
The teacher's comments led to his being suspended as a precautionary measure. The director of the school, the economist Christian Gollier, the day after the events, specified that “made in a professional context by a public official with no relation to the subject taught, these remarks contravene the obligation of reserve in force in public service.
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The Toulouse public prosecutor's office had opened an investigation into advocating terrorism. It was dismissed.
