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By Ben Rappaport, United with Israel
“Oxford had been taken over by terror supporters,” Pro-Israel Arab-Israeli activist Yoseph Haddad concluded following a debate on Thursday at the Oxford Union.
The debate centered on the motion, “This house believes Israel is an apartheid state responsible for genocide.” Ultimately, the motion passed 278 votes to 59, according to The Jewish Chronicle.
Tonight at the Oxford Union we debate:
This House Believes Israel is an Apartheid State Responsible for Genocide
Speakers for Proposition:
•Mohammed El-Kurd @m7mdkurd
•Ebrahim Osman Mowafy
•Miko Peled @mikopeled
•Susan Abulhawa @susanabulhawa pic.twitter.com/RKgxqvoKBT— Oxford Union (@OxfordUnion) November 28, 2024
The team arguing against the motion was comprised of British barrister Natasha Hausdorff from UK Lawyers for Israel, broadcaster Jonathan Sacerdoti, Mosab Hassan Yousef – son of a Hamas co-founder — and Haddad.
Mosab Hassan Yousef, Yosef Haddas, Jonathan Sacerdoti & Natasha Hausdorff at the Oxford union debate pic.twitter.com/pNB3Cvdlw7
— Jewish Uncensored (@JewUncensored) December 1, 2024
Writing on X, Haddad described a “hostile” environment in which “90% of the participants are clearly anti-Israel propagandists who admire Nasrallah and Sinwar and believe Israel has no right to exist.”
“During the biased discussion, extreme statements flew such as praising and glorifying the October 7th massacre and claims that it was a ‘heroic act of an oppressed people,’” he recounted.
“When a speaker in the audience cried for the residents of Gaza in a forced and unbelievable way, I pulled out a picture of the Muslim hostages Yousef and Hamza al-Ziyadna and asked if she was crying for them too.
“One of the participants in the audience took the picture and threw it on the floor and others stepped on it. I endured curses, boos, and threats during the confrontation, but there was one thing I was not willing to endure: the humiliation of our hostages.
“I demanded that they be removed and I refused to continue the discussion, even when the anti-Israel chairman, who actually took part in the debate himself, warned me and finally decided to have me removed from the venue.
“In front of the hostile terrorist-supporting audience, just before I left the hall, I did one last thing – over my official tuxedo, I put on a T-shirt that I had brought. It has a picture of Nasrallah with a large X over it and the caption ‘Your ‘heroic’ terrorist is dead, we killed him,’” Haddad said.
BREAKING: Yoseph Hadad, an Israeli-Arab peace activist, was forcibly kicked out by terror supporters at an Oxford Union debate.
Hadad is an Arab who advocates for coexistence. Universities have become so radical that he was kicked out.
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) November 29, 2024
In a separate X post, Haddad noted, “It is important to understand that the absolute majority of those present at the event were immigrants or children of immigrants from the Middle East, I am not exaggerating when I tell you this. I heard more Arabic than English there! With the hostility and hatred there I didn’t know if I was in Britain or at the University in Jenin! The president of the association who held the event is an Arab from Egypt and his deputy is an Arab from Lebanon… He himself served as the chairman of the discussion, a role that is supposed to be objective, but at the same time he took part as a spokesperson for the anti-Israel side who claimed that Israel is an apartheid state that commits genocide.”
“This is no longer Oxford University, but Oxford occupied by anti-Semitic and anti-Israel Middle Easterners!” he concluded.
Journalist Emily Schrader, who was also present at the event, recounted on X,”Never in my lifetime have I seen such appalling mob-incited unbridled Jew hatred being endorsed and emboldened by one of the most respected institutions in academia. The entire debate was a type of Dreyfus trial and it was rigged to intentionally make Jewish students unwelcome.”
“The courage exemplified by Jonathan Sacerdoti opening the debate almost brought me to tears. In the face of snickering and mocking at mentions of antisemitism — the constant interruptions, insults, racism, cursing and screaming, all in an attempt to silence a proud Jew…who refused to be silenced. One of the ugliest scenes I have ever witnessed. We should not need 7 security guards with us to be proud of who we are. We should not have to scream over bloodthirsty lunatics to have our voices heard on a forum like the Oxford Union.
The Oxford Union (@OxfordUnion) is absolutely shameful for their actions yesterday & today.
As the title of their “debate” last night states, “This House Belies Israel is an Apartheid State Responsible for Genocide,” making it clear where they stood.
Arguing in support of the… pic.twitter.com/wmQH7CqmQp
— Ari Ingel (@OGAride) November 29, 2024
“If that’s not enough, when Yoseph Haddad spoke, they did worse, with more disruptions and insults in Arabic from the audience. When he raised awareness for the hostages — Arab Muslim hostages — the Arab Muslims in the Oxford Union insulted them, grabbed the photo and stomped on it. The woman behind me who had been cursing “Zionists” the entire time, did so proudly right in front of me while the chair, the president of the Oxford Union who ARGUED ON THE SIDE OF THE PROPOSITION HIMSELF, refused to kick out the woman cursing us.
“Meanwhile, when Mosab Hassan Yousef stated the Palestinians are pathetic in their behavior during his speech, that same chair tried to kick him out of the debate as well for ‘insulting Palestinians.’ So you see, they have the right to insult Jews and Zionists, but they also have a right to not be insulted. All the while, they are gaslighting and claiming that what they seek is simply ‘equality.’
“This is a bald faced lie,” Schrader emphasized. “What they are advocating for is Islamic supremacy.”
“Mosab was also attacked by the President of the Union (incidentally an Egyptian), the other speakers, and the audience for being a ‘collaborator’,” she continued. “Yet when he revealed what his ‘crime’ was, giving information on an imminent suicide bombing targeting civilians, and asked the audience who would come forward to the police if they were in the same position, only about 25% of the students raised their hands. That means 75% of the audience would not tell the police if they had knowledge of an imminent terror attack that will kill civilians. Can you imagine!? This is not pro-Palestinian, it’s Islamist terrorism.”
“Thank G-d for people like Natasha Hausdorff who spoke with courage, facts, and fearlessness in the face of unbelievable harassment and threats, to close the shameful debate with dignity.
“While all of this was happening, anti-Israel protesters were screaming for the end of the Jewish state outside the debate hall. And that doesn’t even get into what happened on the lead up to the debate where Oxford Union staff gave the pro-Israel side almost no information and refused to speak to the pro-Israel side even about logistics.”
She added, “At the beginning of the debate, [members of the opposing debate team] Miko Peled and Mohammed El Kurd refused to shake hands with their opponents and all 4 of them refused take the traditional photo. El Kurd also stormed out of the debate after he spoke like the petulant little coward he is, despite the fact this is totally unacceptable conduct in this forum. Yet the President did nothing. At the dinner, they refused to sit with the opposition debaters. Pathetic, racist, childish, and empowered by the institution that is Oxford Union.”
“The entitled zombies who debated in favor of the proposition aren’t angry at injustice for Palestinians, they are angry that a Jewish and Democratic state exists.
“Well we aren’t going anywhere, so I got one word for them: Cope,” Schrader concluded.
