Oxford Union criticized for censorship, altering videos after Israel debate

The Oxford Union Society released several edited videos of its recent Israel-related debate on Friday after the student group faced heavy criticism for the alleged censorship of videos, the conduct of the audience and participants, and alleged pro-terrorism rhetoric in some of the speeches.

Following the November 28 debate on the proposition that “Israel is an Apartheid State Responsible for Genocide,” the Oxford Union published on December 5 videos of some of the speakers.

The following day, opposition debater, writer, and Oxford alum Jonathan Sacerdoti said the video of his speech had been edited to hide the heckling and abuse that he and other opposition debaters experienced. He and former Palestinian spy for Israel and anti-Hamas activist Mosab Hassan Yousef said the union had failed to upload Yousef’s speech for the same reason.

“They’ve tried to hide what happened, in the video of my speech, by muting the sound and sticking to a wide shot,” Sacerdoti said on social media.

He published his recording of the debate on YouTube on December 6.

The Oxford Union Society criticized him for publishing and recording content without permission. It said the recordings were under legal review, but removed its video of Sacerdoti’s speech and re-uploaded it onto YouTube last Friday.

The video of Yousef’s debate was also released last Friday, which he said had been hidden in an attempt to hide the “moral rot” of the audience.

Last week, Sacerdoti said the union was ashamed not just of the abuse he received, but by the attempt of then-Oxford Union Society president Ebrahim Osman-Mowafy to remove Yousef from the room when he described Palestinians as a pathetic people.

“Since thousands pressured the students who run the Oxford Union to publish Mosab Hassan Yousef’s excellent speech, they’ve now caved in and made it public,” Sacerdoti said on Saturday. “But only after I’d already shown their failures and extremism by publishing the uncensored audio. And now they’ve deleted other speeches and censored those instead, making a complete mockery of freedom of speech.”

Oxford Union addresses footage in a statement

Last Friday, the union acknowledged that “consistent with our existing practice of upholding standards while being mindful of potential legal concerns, sections of the official footage of the debate have been removed.”

Among the speeches that were edited was one by anti-Zionist Israeli writer Miko Peled, a member of the team in favor of the proposition, which like Yousef’s speech had not been uploaded until Friday.

Last Wednesday, Yousef said on X/Twitter the union had withheld Peled’s speech in an attempt to “destroy evidence” when Peled reportedly made statements of support for the October 7 massacre.

Sacerdoti had uploaded onto YouTube an alleged recording of Peled in which he said, “October 7 was not terrorism” but “acts of heroism of a people who have been oppressed.” His statements did not appear in the speech uploaded by the Oxford Union Society.

Opposition team debater and Arab pro-Israel activist Yoseph Haddad said the union had, with its acknowledgment that it had edited the video for legal compliance, “literally admitted that during Miko Peled’s speech, he supported terrorism and instead of calling him out and expelling him from the debate, they allowed him to continue and even cheered for him.”

Proposition team debater and Palestinian writer and activist Susan Abulhawa on Saturday criticized the union for removing her speech and re-uploading a version that was about a minute shorter. She demanded to know why her speech had been edited when the union had not issued “statements, retractions, or other forms of censorship” in the past.

“Such modification of my speech and censorship is unethical and contrary to the ideals they purport to uphold,” she said on social media. “This censorship and perversion of my remarks come after the original YouTube video had garnered hundreds of thousands of views and thousands of comments in less than one week, which apparently was bothersome to Zionists. I demand the original speech be reinstated in its entirety as it was previously posted.”

The union had folded to demands by Zionists, who had been “rewriting history for the past eight decades,” Abulhawa said.

Yousef on Wednesday also accused union president Osman-Mowafy of packing the audience to “guarantee vote results that suited his personal political views” when he debated on the side of the proposition.

The proposition that Israel was committing genocide passed 278-59.

On December 4, the union said the withdrawal of a guest speaker on short notice had necessitated that Osman-Mowafy fill the slot. Norman Finkelstein reportedly backed out because historian Benny Morris declined to join the opposition team.

The video of Osman-Mowafy’s speech said: “This speaker is a competitive debater, and the views expressed may not represent their own beliefs.”

The debate between the team of Sacerdoti, Yousef, Haddad, and UK Lawyers For Israel Charitable Trust legal director Natasha Hausdorff against Osman-Mowafy, Abulhawa, and Peled was rife with jeering and interruption. The proposition team refused to be photographed with their opponents, and Peled refused to shake their hands.

Abulhawa said an audience member had called Hassan Yousef a “whore” in Arabic when he approached the podium. Sacerdoti was repeatedly interrupted by guests yelling that he was lying.

Haddad was removed from the debate when he said an audience member was unconcerned about the hostages.

On Friday, the union said it was committed to free speech and did not endorse any singular viewpoint.

“We are aware that the union’s recent debate on Israel/Palestine has drawn widespread commentary and attention,” it said. “The union acknowledges that facilitating difficult conversations carries a responsibility to approach sensitive topics with care.”