Oxford Union defies trustees’ threat to shut it down over pro-Palestine speech

The Oxford Union, founded in 1823, describes itself as the most prestigious debating society in the world.

The student-led organisation at the University of Oxford says its “roots lie in free speech”.

It has hosted scores of world leaders and multiple British prime ministers. William Gladstone, Ted Heath and Boris Johnson were once union presidents.

But now, the institution has been plunged into chaos over a debate it held last year on Israel’s war on Gaza.

Students are clashing with the union’s trustees, who have threatened to shut the institution down if it publishes a video of a speech by Palestinian-American writer Susan Abulhawa.

Middle East Eye can reveal that the union’s standing committee voted on Monday to publish the full video of Abulhawa’s speech – but some union officials fear the president will not do so under pressure from trustees.

“The Oxford Union was one of few places where we could have debates like this without the influence of moneyed interests,” a senior union official who asked to remain anonymous told MEE.

“Students are supposed to organise debates without being influenced by power and money. But now the trustees are pressuring the committee.

“This is censorship of pro-Palestinian speech.”

‘Apartheid state responsible for genocide’

In November 2024, the union voted by an overwhelming majority that Israel is an “apartheid state responsible for genocide”.

The debate made national headlines but the real scandal was yet to come.

On 5 December, the union published a speech from the debate by Susan Abulhawa, a renowned Palestinian-American author, on YouTube, where it racked up hundreds of thousands of views within a few days.

But in under a week the video was removed from YouTube without explanation.

At the same time, another version of the video, with 73 seconds of Abulhawa’s speech removed, was uploaded. 

Sources told MEE the decision was taken under intense pressure from the union’s board of trustees, and after the president who presided over the debate, Ebrahim Osman-Mowafy, finished his term as president.

Censored speech

In the censored sections of the speech, heard by MEE, Abulhawa discussed the Israeli military’s documented use of booby-trapped toys and systematic rape in Israeli prisons.

She argued that Zionists feel divinely favoured and entitled and that they are unable to live with others without dominating them.

Abulhawa said the censored parts of the speech were “factual information”.

A union member who attended the debate told MEE on condition of anonymity that “everything Susan said was measured and factually accurate. She is a great and experienced writer.”

“Editing her speech is censorship of an important piece of literary work.”

Abulhawa brought a lawsuit against the union on 3 March, accusing it of discrimination and copyright infringement and alleging they had breached a contract signed before the debate.

Sources told MEE that the union’s elected standing committee, which is made up of students and serves as the institution’s governing body, recently decided to publish the full, unedited video.

But the Oxford Literary and Debating Union Trust (OLDUT) – the charity board that oversees the society – threatened to shut the union down if it published the full video.

“The trustees were telling members of the standing committee that they would go to jail,” a senior union official said on condition of anonymity.

“But there was nothing illegal in the speech and no one was contacted by the police after the debate – including the speakers.”

In a dramatic turn this week, and in apparent defiance of threats by the trustees, on Monday the standing committee held a vote on whether to “upload the full, unedited speech of Susan Abulhawa”.

A senior union official told MEE that nine out of the 20 committee members resigned to avoid voting.

In the end, the remaining members of the committee voted to publish the video.

The union president, Anita Okunde, was given 48 hours to publish the video.

The deadline is 8:30pm on Wednesday.

“The trustees are trying to stop this from happening,” a union source with knowledge of the matter told MEE. 

In a bizarre twist, the senior union official told MEE that some members of the standing committee want the president to hold another vote or simply refuse to implement the vote’s result. 

“Some on the standing committee are claiming the vote was invalid or that the president can ignore it,” the official said. 

“The Oxford Union is on its knees under pressure from the trustees.

“This has never happened in the history of the society.”

MEE has contacted the union and the OLDUT for comment.

Abulhawa told MEE that “this is part of a widespread pattern of silencing Palestinian and pro-Palestinian, anti-genocide voices in western institutions, media and political life.”

Now, all eyes are on the Oxford Union’s president – and on the society’s YouTube channel.