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London Lecture Turns to Terror: Masked Mob Storms Classroom, Threatens to Behead Israeli Professor Over His 1980s IDF Service

By: Fern Sidman

In what has become a striking symbol of the deepening climate of intimidation facing Jewish academics across the United Kingdom, Professor Michael Ben-Gad, a senior economics lecturer at City, University of London, has vowed to continue teaching despite death threats, public harassment, and an on-campus assault by masked pro-Palestinian activists who allegedly threatened to behead him during a lecture.

According to a report that appeared on Wednesday in The Daily Mail of the UK, the shocking confrontation took place earlier this week, when a group of demonstrators stormed one of Ben-Gad’s lectures, crowding around his podium and shouting slurs such as “war criminal” and “Nazi.” One of the masked agitators, the professor said, warned him that his “head would be chopped off.” The intrusion, captured in part by startled students on mobile phones, marks the latest escalation in a months-long campaign by activists demanding the Israeli-born academic’s dismissal because of his prior military service in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) four decades ago.

Ben-Gad, who served in the IDF from 1982 to 1985 and later became an economist at the Bank of Israel, has been branded a “terrorist” by student groups and accused of “complicity in war crimes.” Flyers featuring his face have been plastered around the university. Yet, in a defiant statement to The Daily Mail, the professor declared that the intimidation campaign would not silence him.

“If the objective was to frighten or intimidate me, frankly they’ll have to try a lot harder than printing a flyer or launching an Instagram campaign,” Ben-Gad told the paper. “I plan to act like an IDF veteran — these modern brown shirts are not going to send me into hiding.”

In an interview with Sky News, Ben-Gad recounted how the masked intruders disrupted his lecture:

“I finished my class, and it was invaded by protesters who came right up to my face. They called me a war criminal and a Nazi. One of them made a threat about having my head chopped off. They refused to leave, and they were masked.”

The 66-year-old scholar said the incident occurred despite the university increasing his security after weeks of harassment, including the circulation of leaflets labeling him a “terrorist.” He added that his “only crime” was “being a Jew who has lived in the Middle East.”

Ben-Gad, who has taught at City since 2008 and once chaired the Economics Department, said he was offered paid leave to work remotely but declined. “Under the circumstances, I am carrying on with my duties. The students should expect nothing less from me,” he said, emphasizing his concern for Jewish students who are “far more vulnerable than I am.”

The Daily Mail reported that his employer, now known as City St George’s University of London, has expressed unequivocal support for him. The institution’s president, Professor Sir Anthony Finkelstein, himself the son of Holocaust survivors, has condemned the harassment campaign and pledged to protect both Ben-Gad and Jewish students from further threats.

The campaign against Ben-Gad began shortly after the recent Gaza ceasefire. According to the information provided in The Daily Mail report, a group calling itself City Action for Palestine launched an online petition calling for his “immediate dismissal.” The petition accuses him of being an “active participant in murdering our people” because of his past service in the IDF and prior teaching post at the University of Haifa.

“Shame on City for allowing a terrorist to be near and teach Arab and Muslim students,” the petition reads. “The IOF [a derogatory term used in place of IDF, meaning ‘Israel Occupying Forces’] has terrorized Palestinians and Lebanese for over 77 years. Our students will not rest as long as this terrorist walks freely in our institution.”

Flyers distributed around the campus list his employment history, highlighting his work in Israel’s government and military. According to the report in The Daily Mail, the posters specifically cite his “six years working in a genocidal society” as a lecturer at the University of Haifa and his “three years of military service in the IDF” as reasons for outrage.

Despite these attacks, Ben-Gad insists he has no intention of yielding to what he describes as “a hate-driven mob.” He told the paper that the campaign is motivated not by his actions but by hatred for Jews and Israel.

“They picked the wrong professor at the wrong university,” he said. “These hate groups need a new cause now that the ceasefire has begun. I may have been targeted because of my role in campaigning for academic freedom, which seems to trigger extremists.”

Ben-Gad’s ordeal has sparked an outpouring of solidarity from colleagues across the UK. The Daily Mail reported that hundreds of academics — from Imperial College London, Oxford, and other leading universities — have signed a statement condemning the harassment campaign.

“Regardless of diverse views on the Gaza war or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we deplore any campaign that seeks to intimidate or drive out lecturers because they are Israeli or Jewish,” the joint statement declared. “Such attacks are intimidating, particularly to Jewish students, and set a dangerous precedent.”

The signatories expressed gratitude for City University’s firm stance, asserting that “academic freedom must not be sacrificed to mob intimidation.”

Prominent public intellectuals have also rallied to Ben-Gad’s defense. Professor Alice Sullivan of University College London wrote on social media: “Solidarity with Professor Ben-Gad. Students are demanding his sacking simply because he is an Israeli Jew who has done mandatory military service. The antisemitic harassment he is being subjected to is horrifying.”

Abhishek Saha, a mathematics professor at Queen Mary University, called the campaign “vile, targeted harassment on the basis of national origin and religion.” Historian Niall Ferguson added that “students who behave in this repulsively intolerant fashion need to face discipline.”

In a statement published by The Daily Mail, City St George’s University strongly condemned the harassment and reaffirmed its commitment to academic freedom.

“City St George’s fully supports and upholds freedom of expression within the law and is willing to engage in lawful discussion and debate,” the university said. “However, unlawful and repugnant attempts to obstruct and interfere with our academic operations are another matter entirely. We will not tolerate the harassment of our staff and students.”

The statement continued: “We reject the unlawful actions of this small group of individuals that is neither affiliated with the University nor its Students’ Union. We will continue to support and protect our staff and students, including Michael, who has the full support of the University and its senior management team.”

The administration’s response stands in stark contrast to the handling of similar cases at other British universities, where Jewish faculty have reported feeling abandoned or “left to fend for themselves.”

The case of Professor Ben-Gad comes amid what The Daily Mail report described as “an alarming resurgence of antisemitism in British universities.” Since Hamas’s October 7th, 2023 attacks on Israel, campuses across the UK have seen a dramatic rise in antisemitic incidents, including harassment, vandalism, and threats against Jewish students and faculty.

Jewish groups, including the Campaign Against Antisemitism and the Board of Deputies of British Jews, have repeatedly urged universities to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism and to enforce disciplinary measures against students or faculty who cross the line from political protest into hate speech.

Ben-Gad told The Daily Mail that the attacks against him are part of a broader campaign to silence pro-Israel voices on British campuses. “This is not about me,” he said. “It’s about an effort to intimidate anyone who dares to stand up for Israel or who is visibly Jewish. If I step aside, they’ll come after the next professor, and the next student.”

He added that the leadership of City University — particularly President Finkelstein — “understands completely the true nature of this campaign” because both men are sons of Holocaust survivors.

Despite being offered a period of paid leave for his safety, Professor Ben-Gad insists he will not retreat. His steadfastness, he says, is rooted both in his Israeli identity and in gratitude for the freedoms he has found in Britain.

“I am an unapologetic Israeli patriot, and no one is going to intimidate me,” he told The Daily Mail. “At the same time, I am deeply grateful to this wonderful country for all the opportunities it has afforded me. These people hate Britain for its unique tradition of civility, freedom, and tolerance as much as they hate Israel and Jews.”

For Ben-Gad, the stakes extend beyond personal safety. He sees the attacks as part of a broader erosion of intellectual integrity and open inquiry in Western universities. “If universities cannot defend their faculty from violent mobs, then academia ceases to be a place of learning,” he warned.

The Daily Mail’s coverage of the incident has ignited a nationwide debate about academic freedom, antisemitism, and the responsibilities of universities in safeguarding both. British Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has previously said institutions “must protect Jewish students and staff from harassment, intimidation, and hate,” warning that tolerance of antisemitism “will never be acceptable.”

Meanwhile, Jewish students at City University say they have been left shaken by the assault on Ben-Gad’s class. One student, who asked not to be named, told the newspaper that “seeing masked men shouting threats in our lecture hall was terrifying. It made me realize that what starts online as hate can become very real, very fast.”

As police review security footage and the university reinforces campus patrols, Ben-Gad continues to lecture — a quiet act of defiance that has made him, for many, a symbol of resilience.

“They tried to silence me,” he said in his final remarks to The Daily Mail, “but all they’ve done is remind me why I became a teacher in the first place — to stand for truth, even when it’s hard.”

For now, Professor Michael Ben-Gad remains at his post — the economist turned reluctant emblem of a deeper crisis confronting British academia. The Daily Mail’s reporting has drawn international attention to his ordeal, spotlighting the dangerous intersection of identity politics, antisemitism, and campus radicalization.

His message, however, remains unwavering: “No one is going to intimidate me,” he repeats. And as the walls of civility seem to narrow across Europe’s universities, that conviction — part courage, part principle — stands as both a warning and an example.

In his own words, “I plan to act like an IDF veteran — and that means standing my ground.”