A City FoP event on February 27 raised serious concerns about the university’s commitment to an inclusive, respectful environment for Jewish students. Among the five invited speakers for their event titled, “Media and Palestine: the Importance of Documenting”, three of the speakers have documented histories of public antisemitic rhetoric. Despite repeated concerns from Jewish students, the Students’ Union (SU) and university administration failed to act decisively by taking immediate further investigations to ensure safety and prevent discrimination for all. This shows that our community leaders still haven’t learned that enabling brazenly antisemitic anti-Israel activism more often than not compromises the academic rights of Jewish students. These concerns have been raised an undue number of times. We are not listened to. Clearly, Jewish students’ safety is not their priority.
The invitation of Ahmed Najar and Yousef Alhelou is particularly alarming, as both individuals have engaged in antisemitic rhetoric: Ahmed Najar has compared Israel and its allies to Holocaust perpetrators– a falsehood and expression of Holocaust Inversion that implicitly promotes pro-Nazi antisemitism; if today’s Jews are just as bad as the Nazis, then the Holocaust was actually an attempt to save the world from the future evil of Zionist Jews.
Yousef Alhelou has referred to Zionism as a “disease” and downplayed the suffering of Israeli hostages during the latest ceasefire period, despite confirmed reports that the kidnapped victims, including infants, were murdered and returned dead. Alhelou then posted the propaganda video recorded by Hamas.
This activist is so extreme in his pro-Hamas/anti-Israel rhetoric that Meta banned his main account in March 2025, 3 months after the company decided to significantly reduce its COVID-era hate speech and fact-checking enforcement policies.
The event proceeded with minimal intervention until the last minute when the SU abruptly advised canceling Alhelou’s appearance. This sudden reversal, following extensive back-and-forth emails between the Jewish Society President and the SU head of communities, suggests the SU was aware of the risks, such as antisemitism and hate speech, but chose to ignore them until unavoidable. It was only until the SU, led further research and told City FoP they would be recording the event that the decision was taken to cancel Alhelou (showing that the society itself felt recording would be a cause for concern).
Despite his last minute removal, inflammatory rhetoric persisted. Journalist and filmmaker Matthew ‘Muhammad Abdul Mateen’ Robinson, whose website proudly shows him cordially interviewing notorious antisemite “Hamas and Hezbollah are my friends” Jeremy Corbin while brandishing a Palestine patch, pushed a one-sided and hostile narrative. He demonised Israeli leaders as “monsters” and falsely claimed that “Israel is [commiting] genocide according to the ICJ”.
Despite his focus on the importance of fact-checking, at the event (seen on livestream), Robinson ironically admitted to spreading misinformation: “I was caught once for posting about a drone company I thought was Israeli and should be boycotted… they contacted me and turned out not to be Israelis.” His confessed hypocrisy, followed by shrugging it off, suggests one of three things: profound ignorance, an affinity for antisemitic conspiracies, or a dangerously distorted belief that dishonesty towards Jewish survival serves a greater good.
And this is who the pro-Palestine student activists chose to bring to campus.
Rather than encouraging open debate, the event reinforced a one-sided narrative that has been shown to enable support of terrorism and the harassment based upon the invited speakers, despite background checks from the SU. Platforming said speakers deters Zionists and Jewish students from attending due to the underlying hostility faced on campus and around such events.
When City FoP advertised the event on February 25 (two days before the event), Jewish students immediately flagged the invited speakers’ history of hate speech. Only after seven follow-ups did the SU agree to “re-review” Yousef Alhelou—something that should have happened as part of the initial speaker approval and complaint policies to ensure concerns were addressed, met and balanced.
The official response: a shrug.
While the University took no substantive action, merely suggesting the event be recorded, the SU ultimately disinvited Alhelou due to City FoP not wanting it to be recorded by the university. I wonder why.
This is a pattern on City’s campus. Last year, “Doctor. Surgeon. Teacher. Communist” and anti-Israel ideologue Ranjeet Brar came to speak about his book titled “Zionism: A Racist, Antisemetic and Reactionary Tool For Imperialism” (front cover containing a swastika intertwined with the Jewish symbol – Star of David). The activist was allowed to uncritically peddle his antisemitism even after being arrested a few months prior due to suspicion of “inciting racial hatred” and “aggravated racism.”
When City, University of London continues to platform speakers who promote antisemitic hate or glorify terrorism, it signals that Jewish students’ safety is not a priority. As a result, some no longer feel safe or welcome—students have spoken about feeling anxious attending lectures or visibly identifying as Jewish due to constant underlying hostility.
The university must act immediately, not just to prevent legitimising harmful rhetoric but because its inaction sends a clear message. Jewish students are being told to tolerate hate in silence—something no other minority group would accept. This isn’t about limiting free speech, but ensuring all students feel safe, respected, and included. City FoP has the right to express their views, but the university must uphold its academic values. To repair the harm, the Students’ Union should adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, distinguishing between legitimate criticism of Israeli policy and rhetoric denying Jewish self-determination. The university must also implement a robust reporting system for antisemitic incidents and improve transparency in the speaker approval process.
This is not about limiting debate. It’s about setting clear boundaries where student safety and dignity are non-negotiable.
This article was originally published in The Times of Israel.
