[Free Press] Something is rotten in the state of Britain. It was epitomized by a recent event at the Oxford Union, the 201-year-old debating society that is such a distinctive and admirable part of Oxford life. It was at the Union that, 40 years ago, I spoke as freely (and indeed as irresponsibly) as I ever have, discovering in the process that I was not cut out for politics. It was there that I saw great debaters of the past, present, and future.
But I never saw anything like the events of November 28.
The motion for debate was in itself a provocation:
| Of course. And intentionally so. As probably was the one back in the day when Oxford men resolved not to fight for their country against the Nazis — university lads being dangerously sophomoric, self-righteous idiots… |
"This House Believes Israel Is an Apartheid State Responsible for Genocide." But what was truly shocking was the conduct of the president of the Union, an Egyptian student named Ebrahim Osman-Mowafy, who appears to have abused his position by openly siding with those proposing the motion and treating the opposing speakers with contempt.
According to the broadcaster, Jonathan Sacerdoti, who was arguing for Israel’s side, Osman-Mowafy canceled the traditional pre-debate group photographs, but posed alone for private photos with the anti-Israel team. During the debate, the pro-Israel speakers were repeatedly heckled by the crowd. At one point, a young woman stood up and screamed at Sacerdoti: "Liar! Fuck you, the genocidal motherfucker!"
| Unerzogen, say the Germans. Déclassé, the French. New money, sneer the English, as appropriate, or overbred. The Russians would say nekulturny, but nobody listens to them nowadays, even when they’re right. |
Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of a senior Hamas leader who defected to Israel, who was arguing alongside Sacerdoti, was met with jeering derision and cries of "traitor" and "prostitute" (in Arabic). Yousef asked the audience to indicate by a show of hands how many of them would have reported prior knowledge of the October 7, 2023, atrocities to Israel. Not even a quarter of the crowd raised their hands.
For the other side, Miko Peled, an Israeli general’s son turned radical anti-Zionist, described the murders, rapes, and kidnappings of October 7 as "acts of heroism." The Palestinian poet Mohammed El-Kurd, who has equated Zionism with genocide, began his speech by announcing that there was "no room for debate" and ended it by walking out of the chamber. The motion passed by 278 in favor to 59 against.
| Three cheers for the 59, though they may need eventually to find their careers in Donald Trump’s America or some other free country. |
Reading reports of this shameful fiasco at my alma mater, I found myself wondering: Where are the Thought Police when you really need them? After all, the Oxford Union’s latest debate sounded a lot like one of those "noncrime hate incidents" that currently consume so much of the British police’s time.
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