UK professor under investigation for ‘blow up Jewish venue’ post

A retired professor is being investigated by police after she suggested online that someone should “blow up the venue” of a Jewish political conference in the UK — a post she now claims was made as a “joke.”

Harriet Bradley, 70, made the comment in reply to another user on X who captioned a list of speakers at the Jewish Labour Conference next month by saying: “If you wanted to know where you can find every racist, nonce and s–house in Britain, now you know,” according to the Times of London.

“Somebody blow up the venue!” Bradley wrote as she shared the message Tuesday in a now-deleted post.

The Jewish Labour Movement, which organized the conference immediately wrote to the University of Bristol — where Bradley held an emeritus position — urging it to “send a powerful message about the lack of tolerance” it has for “such hateful, highly dangerous and inflammatory behavior.

“Professor Bradley has decided to encourage those who want to perpetuate acts of violence against Jews, by targeting our conference,” it said.

“This is wrong, highly irresponsible and the behavior that you wouldn’t expect from a first-year undergraduate, let alone an emeritus professor.”

Avon and Somerset police have since confirmed they were investigating Bradley’s remarks and have “recorded it as an incident of malicious communications,” the BBC reports.

Both the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England have also stripped Bradley of her honorary “professor emeritus” title.

“We are deeply dismayed by the inflammatory comment on social media from a former employee who has long retired, and we are taking appropriate actions,” Bristol university officials said in a statement.

“We can confirm that we have withdrawn the Emeritus and Honorary Status of retired employee Professor Harriet Bradley with immediate effect.”

A spokesperson for the University of the West of England also told the BBC: “Harriet Bradley’s permanent employment at UWE Bristol ended in 2018.

“Following her recent offensive remarks on social media, we can confirm that her honorary title of Emeritus Professor has been removed with immediate effect.”

But Bradley insisted the comment was simply a joke.

“It was a remark made as a joke, but I can see now it was a terrible mistake in awful taste,” she said in a statement, claiming she posted the perceived threat “in a moment of anger” over the war in Israel.

She went on to claim she was of Jewish heritage and had “great respect for the Jewish people and their terrible historical sufferings.

“I deplore what [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and the Israeli Defense Forces are doing in Gaza, killing and mutilating thousands of children and babies.”

Yet this is not the first time Bradley has come under fire for antisemitic posts.

In 2019, she was suspended from her position as Labour councilor after she captioned a photo: “The right kind of Jews, ie Left voters,” the Times reports.

She was later reinstated, but voluntarily stepped down from her position in 2020 for health reasons.

Bradley was then expelled from the party in 2021.