Sir – In recounting my background for November’s Castaway (Oxfordshire Limited Edition), I refrained from naming the person who denied me a Rhodes Scholarship. However, Jesmond Blumenfeld has divulged his identity (Letters, November 7) and has impugned my integrity.

Mr Blumenfeld is a past president of the Oxford Jewish Community and the son-in-law of the late Israel Aaron Maisels. The latter was the chairman of the South African Zionist Federation when he headed the Rhodes selection panel that interviewed me.

Israel Maisels was indignant at my balanced exposition on the plight of Palestinians. He took umbrage at my informed analysis of Israeli expansionism so voted against me. Clearly, Maisels did not want an independent, free-thinking Muslim to be awarded the Rhodes Scholarship.

Had I agreed with Zionist ideology and voiced unflinching support for Israel, the outcome would be different. Irrefutable evidence of this travesty comes from the unprecedented reaction by Colin Kinghorn, the Rhodes secretary. To make amends, he spontaneously arranged for an Oppenheimer bursary that enabled me to study at Oxford University.

Yes, many South African Jews like Israel Maisels were part of the anti-apartheid struggle to bring justice and freedom to South Africa. Paradoxically, most of them also tended to give unstinting loyalty to the Zionist cause and Israel’s inhumane policy towards the Palestinians, oblivious to the double standards and hypocrisy that this engendered. Why is it that many Zionist Jews champion human rights and social justice everywhere but not in Palestine? Their shocking inconsistency is inexcusable since true adherents of Judaism would not sanction such shameful selectivity.

It is tragic that Israel Maisels suffered from this same blinkered bias — energetically campaigning for liberty and equality in South Africa while turning a blind eye to discrimination and repression in the Holy Land. His family must sadly live with the unpalatable consequences of his Zionist prejudices and realise that anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism.

Dr T Hargey, Director, MECO, Oxford