ABSTRACT
In late 2010, controversy erupted at Old University1 when the student Palestine Society organised a public talk by a Palestinian journalist that culminated in violent exchanges between participating students. The national and international media reported that the invited speaker had contravened the Students’ Union’s anti-Semitism policy and provoked verbal and physical aggression between members of the audience. In the immediate aftermath, the police were contacted regarding claims by Jewish students that they felt scared for their safety and the university authorities investigated these allegations. In the weeks that followed, media commentators denounced the speaker for ‘glorifying’ violence against the Israeli state ‘in the name of Allah’ and elite public figures including Members of Parliament and Jewish communal leaders accused the university authorities of allowing ‘extremism’ into the campus.
