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Oxford Union president hit with 'discrimination' allegations for inviting Israeli ambassador to speak

A petition accused Charlie Mackintosh of 'conspiring with foreign agents to promote an apartheid state’

February 24, 2023 15:22
Tzipi Hotovely speaks during a press conference in Jerusalem in 2017 (MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images)
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely speaks during a press conference in Jerusalem on January 11, 2017. / AFP / MENAHEM KAHANA (Photo credit should read MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP via Getty Images)
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The president of the Oxford Union has been accused of “deliberately conspiring with foreign agents” after hosting a debate that included the Israeli Ambassador to the UK as a guest.

Thursday's members-only event at the historic debating society, titled The Abraham Accords: Prospects for Regional Peace and Prosperity, billed Tzipi Hotovely and her Bahraini and Emirati counterparts as speakers.

Ahead of the event, fellow Oxford student Hamzah Mahomed released a petition urging a no confidence motion in Oxford Union President Charlie Mackintosh, on the basis that the event had been discriminatory. 

Such a petition must receive 250 signatures within 48 hours to prompt a vote. The JC understands that the campaign’s requisition is invalid.