Students protest Israeli and Zionist Society speaker

Charlie Gershinson and Joshua Hughes News Editor and Editor

ATALK recently hosted by the Exeter Israeli and Zionist Society faced strong opposition from Exeter Palestinian groups.

The event on Tuesday 7th February included a talk by Yoseph Haddad, entitled “Life in Israel as an Arab.” Haddad is the CEO of Together Vouch for Each Other and an Israeli Defence Force (IDF) combat veteran. The society wrote that Haddad has “dedicate[d] his life to showcasing the truth about the State of Israel abroad, fighting [Israeli protest movement] BDS, and working to improve relations between Arabs and Jews”.

The event faced protests from various pro-Palestine groups in the University. Friends of Palestine Exeter and Exeter Palestine Action released an open statement condemning the event. This stated that Haddad has recently gone viral online due to a video “showing him chasing, hounding, aggressively harassing and screaming at Palestinian students almost 20 years younger than him”.

The statement goes on to condemn the University of Exeter. They “hold the University and Guild responsible for failing in their duty of care towards and safeguarding students and staff” and believe “the Exeter University Student’s Guild has failed to meet its own risk management for external speakers.” The groups compared the hosting of Haddad to the appearance of other controversial speakers in recent years such as Katie Hopkins, Yaron Brook and Dan Pena. the controversial views of the speaker, however, they are not illegal. We would only normally seek to prevent an event going ahead where, even after mitigation, there remained safety concerns or the potential for illegal speech as defined by relevant legislation. As your Students’ Guild, we support freedom of speech. We want to foster an environment where our members can participate fully, feel able to question and challenge, express new ideas, discuss controversial and or unpopular opinions within the law. You can read more about our commitment to freedom of speech on our website.

The event was the first of its kind by the Israeli and Zionist Society since its founding at the start of the year. The society was founded after 22 students voted in support of the society’s establishment, meeting the requisite minimum of 20 votes in favour.

A spokesperson for the Guild stated: “This event went through the joint Guild and University External Speaker Framework and was approved with appropriate mitigations being considered. The proper procedure was followed in reaching the decision to allow the event to go ahead, including consideration for the safety and welfare of our student community which remains paramount now and always.

A spokesperson for the University of Exeter stated: “We are aware that the student-led Israel & Zionist Society held an event on campus on the February 7th, inviting guest speaker Yoseph Haddad. The University of Exeter is committed to the protection of freedom of speech and required to allow events to go ahead providing they are within the law. We also respect and support each student’s right to protest, provided they do so in a safe, legal and considerate manner.”