The Palestinian ambassador to the United Kingdom, Husam Zomlot, delivered an impassioned speech at an Oxford Speaks event held at St Anne’s College on Thursday 5th February.
Appearing before an audience at the Mary Ogilvie Lecture Theatre, the talk marked the end of the ambassador’s tour around British academic institutions, to publicise the work of UK Friends of Palestinian Universities. The ambassador recently appeared in speaking events at Cambridge University and the London School of Economics (LSE).
Zomlot’s appearance was underpinned by a call to stand against “scholasticide”, in order to protect academic spaces in Gaza and the West Bank. Experts at the UN have expressed concerns that educational institutions are being targeted by the Israeli military’s “assault” in Gaza.
Zomlot has served as Head of the Palestinian Mission to the United Kingdom since October 2018. The Embassy of the State of Palestine in London on 5th January, after the UK government took the decision to recognise Palestinian statehood in September last year.
Zomlot opened by expressing it was “genuinely good to be back in Oxford”. He went on to describe university environments in particular as spaces “where conscience is sharper, where power is questioned, and where young people refuse to accept injustice as normal”.
The ambassador’s speech was tailored to its university audience, thanking students for “fighting to speak truth to power” and comparing recent protests about Gaza to student opposition in the United States during the Vietnam War. He said: “Your voices matter, I ask you to continue – to ensure that the arc of history bends towards justice, because it does not bend on its own.”
Zomlot made reference to a raid by the Israeli military on his alma mater, Birzeit University, in the West Bank last month. Israeli soldiers fired live rounds and tear gas at students who had gathered for a planned screening of the Oscar-nominated film The Voice of Hind Rajab. Eleven students were admitted to hospital for treatment.
Having just returned from the West Bank, including a visit to Birzeit, Zomlot remarked that “90% of schools in Gaza have been damaged”. He said that “what happens in Palestine does not stay in Palestine. The dehumanisation must end. That is peace”.
Responding to questions about how Palestine is portrayed in Western media, the ambassador told Cherwell that “the media wants to deliberately strip things out of context”. He drew parallels with the role Palestinian young people have played in reshaping public perceptions of the nation through social media.
Following the ambassador’s speech, Oxford Speaks President Hussain Jeddy interviewed him, focusing on the subject of Palestine’s future. Jeddy told Cherwell afterwards that he was conscious not to “regurgitate any of the talking points that [Zomlot] always combats”. Jeddy brought up an October 2023 interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored, in which Morgan repeatedly asked Zomlot whether he condemned the actions of Hamas on 7th October that year.
Jeddy stated that organising the event was “quite difficult” due to security considerations. However, he told Cherwell that the event was ultimately “very orderly,” reflecting the value of open academic discussion without having “people constantly trying to attack [Zomlot’s] views”.
Reflecting on the value of the event, Jeddy told Cherwell: “Education is very important, because it helps people remember what has happened so that we don’t repeat it again.”
Questioned by a member of the audience about how to prevent radicalisation in Palestine and build a stable peace process, Zomlot dismissed the idea of deradicalisation through education alone. He repeatedly stated that the solution to political instability in Palestine was to “remove the core cause”, which he argued was Israeli occupation.
“People are reawakening,” Zomlot added. “Oppression has globalised, but so has resistance to it. That’s why I still have hope.”
UK Friends of Palestinian Universities, formerly known as Fozbu, has been in operation since 1978 and is dedicated to building “UK and international academic solidarity, partnership, and exchange with Palestinian higher education institutions facing systematic attack”.
