Oxford University is becoming a “hotbed of antisemitism” after a Union debate last week exposed student support for Hamas terror.

One of the world’s most prestigious places of study, Oxford University, was founded on Judeo-Christian values and has a Biblical heritage. But it is worryingly becoming a hotbed of antisemitism with Jewish students feeling intimidated and support for Hamas now in the open.

This week a “toxic” Oxford Union debate voted in support of the motion: “This house believes Israel is an apartheid state responsible for genocide.”

Over 300 academics and peers have written to Oxford’s new chancellor, Lord Hague, calling for action, describing the debate as a “failure on all counts,” suggesting that the debate subjected Jewish students to “antisemitism and intimidation.”

One speaker, Miko Peled, a pro-Palestinian activist speaking in favour of the motion, described the Oct 7 attacks as “heroism”.

 Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of a senior Hamas founder who defected to Israel’s side, spoke in support of Israel and against the motion. Yousef was met with jeering derision and cries of “traitor” and “prostitute” by some in the audience as he recounted his story.

Yousef asked participants at the debate to raise their hands to indicate whether they would have reported Hamas’s plans to authorities to prevent the October 7th massacre. Shockingly, 75% of the participants voted that they would have chosen NOT to report information to the authorities.

In this week’s CUFI podcast, ‘For Zion’s Sake’, Alex and Alastair asserted that police should now be involved, especially as Hamas is a proscribed terrorist organisation and supporting the terror group in the UK is a crime.

The debate was also unfairly biased against Israel to the extent that the president of the Union, Egyptian-born Ebrahim Osman Mowafy, who is supposed to be impartial as chair of the debate, stepped into the role as a speaker when one withdrew and spoke in favour of Israel being an apartheid state.

Yousef Haddad, a pro-Israel activist, was ejected from the chamber after dismissing audience members as “terrorist supporters”, at which point he put on a T-shirt that read “your terrorist is dead” with a crossed-out face of Hassan Nasrallah, the former Hezbollah leader.

Mr Haddad later took to X, formerly Twitter, to describe Oxford as being “occupied by antisemitic … and racist Middle East peoples”

One of the speakers against the motion, Jonathan Sacerdoti, the son of a Holocaust survivor, told The Telegraph: “The Union’s president deliberately cultivated an environment of hostility towards me, my colleagues, and anyone prepared to challenge the inflammatory motion he chose.

“Institutions like the Oxford Union must not become playgrounds for sinister cliques pushing divisive and prejudicial agendas.”

Rise in antisemitism at Oxford

The latest controversy at Oxford University follows concerns earlier this year about the increase in antisemitism at Oxford.

A report by YnetNews in June shared the testimony of a female student’s experience upon arriving at the prestigious university. Named by the initial “P”, her first day of classes was October 9th, which she described as being “marred by grief and anxiety”, firstly by learning of the murder of her uncle and kidnapping of her aunt, followed by being surrounded by anti-Israel protests and chants denying her country’s right to exist.

Upon visiting a student welfare officer, P. was told, “Oxford is an unpleasant place for Israelis and Jews, and there’s nothing we can do to help you.”

In interviews conducted by Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth, Jewish and Israeli lecturers and students at the prestigious British universities of Oxford and Cambridge described recurring incidents involving both faculty and peers. Over 100 antisemitic and anti-Israel incidents were detailed in a letter submitted by a group of Israelis to the Oxford administration.

A doctoral student at Oxford, named A., said, “On October 7, I was in Israel during the holiday break between semesters when rockets began falling incessantly in my area. Amid the fear and uncertainty, I received WhatsApp notifications from my college. Someone decided to announce demonstrations in support of ‘freedom fighters who came to liberate Palestine,’ effectively endorsing the murder of Israelis. None of the other doctoral students argued with her; instead, they sent her supportive emojis. I wrote to her, hoping to discuss it, thinking she might not fully understand, but she refused, calling me a ‘child murderer.’ I approached my college head with the details, and she simply apologized, unsure of what to do. She referred me to my academic advisor, who was equally clueless. Nothing was done about it. Since then, I haven’t set foot in the college.”

Oxford University administration held several meetings with Israeli representatives after the October 7 terror attack, at the students’ request, but no progress or action plan was achieved to prevent the recurrence of antisemitic incidents, says Ynet.

When the notorious protests took place at Columbia University in New York, Oxford students arrived on campus with sleeping bags and signs, calling on the university to divest from “investments related to the Israeli occupation and genocide” and to sever institutional ties with Israeli universities. A joint statement from the organizations “Cambridge for Palestine” and “Oxford Stands for Palestine” declared: “We refuse to accept our universities’ partnership in Israel’s war crimes. Oxford’s profits cannot continue to climb at the expense of Palestinian lives.” Nearly 200 Oxford staff members signed a letter of support.

“It’s become routine for the city center, which is essentially the university center, to become an area on Saturdays where Jews avoid going,” described L., a university faculty member, with frustration. “The hostility is starting to spill more and more into the public space from the online space.”

The faculty member emphasized that her frustration stems not from the existence of pro-Palestinian demonstrations, but from the antisemitic and anti-Israel chants heard at them. “Swastikas and chants like ‘gas the Jews,’ heard here, greatly undermine our sense of security on campus,” the faculty member said.

Oxford University’s Head of Diversity, Professor Tim Soutphommasane, told Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth that “Oxford should be a place where all its members feel safe and welcome. Based on conversations and exchanges we have had with Jewish students and staff, I recognize that not everyone feels this way currently. We are determined to fix this.”

 

 

 

 

 

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