The shameful Oxford Union debate

Having personally experienced the very brutal, virulent, and malicious Oxford Union motion about Israel on 28 November, I find it difficult to accept that the once great bastion of free speech in the western world, the hallowed chamber of great discussion, has now been turned into a breeding ground for hateful ideation.

Centred around the conspiracy theory that if you demonize Israel enough with buzz words such as, “apartheid, genocide, starvation, policy of targeting and killing children” the people will eventually accept it.

These are the very words used at the Oxford debate that night, and the baying mob of audience members, happily responded with screaming cheers as they constantly rose to their feet, throwing out racist insults and curses to those defending Israel.

Two of the four panelists defending the motion, “Israel is an Apartheid State Responsible for Genocide” were Arabs. One was Mossab Hassan Yousef, whose father co-founded the terror group, Hamas, so he has probably earned the right to speak about the subject. But audience members objected, demanding he be removed from the chamber because he was “insulting Palestinians.”

The other was Israeli Arab, Yoseph Haddad, who protested to the President Ebrahim Osman-Mowafy, about the appalling abuse he was receiving in Arabic from those young women sitting behind him. But the President constantly ignored the requests which in turn, emboldened the audience mob to shout even more insults on their feet, whilst gesturing with their arms and fists.

When Yoseph Haddad stood to speak himself, he held up pictures of Israeli Arabs who were Supreme Court Judges, Members of Knesset, and prominent Arabic Israeli figures. However when pictures of Israeli Arabs held by Hamas in Gaza were shown, he was jeered even louder and 3 or 4 members from the opposite bench ran from their seats, knocked the pictures out of Yoseph’s hands, and began to stomp on them with laughter.

Yoseph and other members of the Israel team yelled at the President to get control of the appalling unbridled hatred towards them, but the President, who was also one of the panelists endorsing the anti-Israel motion, felt Yoseph was being “disrespectful” to the chamber, and ordered him out of the debate.

Haddad was promptly surrounded by Oxford security guards and the audience noise became even more deafening with delightful glee, as he was escorted out.

I had to double check if I really was at the famous Oxford Union Society – a place steeped in historic, prestigious, and distinguished values, where some of the greatest debates have been heard, dating back to 1823.

The night of 28 November, was a sneak preview of how far the union has fallen to the lowest depths of extremism and a bastion of hatred, and it was being endorsed by one of the most respected institutions in academia.

The constant interruptions, insults, racism, cursing and screaming against those four panelists on the Israel side, coming from all around where I was seated, was an attempt to silence free speech. At the same time a hundred or so who could not gain entry to the debate, were heard outside with their songs of “Jihad” and how “Palestine” would replace the Zionist entity.

Before the debate began, I was told that taking any photographs or videos would get me summarily removed from the chamber. The rationale was that the debate was being recorded and that the recording would be released in its entirety. But, noticing black kippa on my head, a Jewish student approached me afterwards and predicted that if the video were to be released, it would be vigorously edited to remove the worst of the chaotic scenes, along with the screaming, insults and support of terrorism.

In any case, to the best of my knowledge, the video has not been released, which is highly unusual. Barrister Natasha Hausdorff, who was one of the four speakers defending Israel’s position, described the debate as a shameful act of uncompromising, vicious and ferocious, hostility towards her team, and rightly pointed out that what had been witnessed, was support of terror endorsed by a biased president.

Mohammed El-Kurd, the first speaker for the proposition, who has previously said earlier this year at a Palestinian street rally, “We must normalize massacres as the status quo,” said very similar words at the debate.

Miko Peled described Gaza as a concentration camp and justified “the break out of the camp on October 7 to defend themselves.” Peled then called for the complete destruction of Israel which must be replaced by a “Palestine” while he glorified terrorism, in breach of the UK law, and all this was done on the floor of Oxford Union.

Susan Abulwaha read a poem for more than 20 minutes which contained twisted fantasies with so much invented anti-Israel information, it made some laugh, because it was so ridiculous.

One line said “The Jews arrived in Palestine in 1948” (even Hamas leaders have said “the Jews have been here for hundreds of years”) and we the peaceful Palestinians, fed them, clothed them and loved them as our own. But they turned on us, to rape us and shoot our children.”

Needless to say, Abulwaha chose not to mention the Arab riots against Jewish communities in British Mandate Palestine of 1926, 1929 and 1936.

I have since spoken to several Jewish and non-Jewish students studying at some of the 39 colleges in Oxford. All have said the intimidation and threats of violence against them is increasing. A few have been moved into safer accommodation.

One of the students who wished to remain anonymous, for obvious reasons, told me that violence has been used with the smashing of windows and the bursting into rooms where the Israel Society and JSOC meet.

He said, “The university have to decide how to create an effective strategy to deal with the extreme elements.”

When asked is there anyone to complain to when these incidents occur, he said it was difficult to report as the university have their hands tied. But stressed there is the Dean and welfare reps.

Some on social media, have criticized Jewish students for not turning out at these debates and boosting the numbers. What they don’t know is the intimidation, bullying and threats against these students is real. They are embedded in a spectrum of hatred which sometimes turns violent, and they did not enter University for this.

Oxford is truly a wonderful place, but in recent years, there has been a surrender to extreme elements, made up of Socialists and Marxists supporters, along with Islamist Jihadi sympathizers and supporters.

I was there at the Oxford Union debate. I am speaking to some of the Jewish and non-Jewish students who feel threatened every day.

Those online have no right to criticize them for not attending these hateful, vulgar, venomous attacks on free speech, where the bias President of the Union, loses complete control and refuses to enforce the rules on both sides.

It is not like a protest on the street where you feel relatively protected with many people you know, and after you go home feeling “I’ve done a great job for the Jewish nation”.

These are smart, intelligent, and very clever students, focused on their masters or PHD. They live close to Marxist and Jihad supporters but these brave students who just want to study, keep their heads down.

Amazingly, the debate did not finish until after midnight, and although dozens of people left earlier, the final result was 278 for the anti-Israel motion and 59 against it. Despite the fact that some young women purposely blocked the “Ney” door which is how you vote against, 59 votes were quite an achievement under the hostile circumstances.