The president of the Oxford Union, Charlie Mackintosh, has faced accusations of “deliberately conspiring with foreign agents” after hosting a debate that featured the Israeli Ambassador to the
UK as a guest. The event, titled The Abraham Accords: Prospects for Regional Peace and Prosperity, was a members-only event that included Tzipi Hotovely, the Israeli Ambassador to the UK, as well as her Bahraini and Emirati counterparts as speakers. The event faced backlash from fellow Oxford student Hamzah Mahomed, who released a petition urging a no confidence motion in Oxford Union President Charlie Mackintosh, on the basis that the event had been discriminatory.
Mahomed claimed that the event was used to promote the interests of an apartheid state and that Mackintosh failed to uphold members’ expectations for freedom of speech. He also accused Mackintosh of facilitating a severe threat to the safety and privacy of Oxford Union members during a June 2022 event with Ambassador Hotovely, where Israeli security allegedly conspired to harass members of colour and pro-Palestinian members. Mahomed’s petition required 250 signatures within 48 hours to prompt a vote, but the campaign’s requisition was deemed invalid.
A protest against the discussion was organised by the Oxford Students Palestinian Society, supported by groups including the Oxford Arab Society and the Oxford Socialist Worker Student Society. According to Cherwell, an Oxford university paper, protestors could be heard chanting “Charlie, Charlie, you can’t hide, you’re supporting apartheid." A group of demonstrators was ushered out of the debate after allegedly shouting that Palestinians are not terrorists.
Following their removal, Ambassador Hotovely was applauded for praising the event’s display of free expression. One student journalist said they saw a young man holding a Palestinian flag being escorted away by police after attempting to enter the venue. The Oxford Student reported that three of their members were at the event, alleging that one of them experienced “racial profiling by the police in trying to report on the event. “All three journalists were questioned, removed from the area, and threatened with arrest by the police,” they claimed in an article on their site.
An Oxford Union spokesperson stated that the organization is proud of its heritage as a forum for the exchange and debate of a wide range of ideas and opinions. They encouraged members to challenge, question and scrutinize the views of their speakers, and reaffirmed their commitment to upholding the principle of free speech. They added that no motion of no confidence had been requisitioned at the time of the statement, as the required 150 signatures had not been met within the 48-hour period. Photo by Estonian Foreign Ministry, Wikimedia commons.