“I think what is going on in there should not be happening,” she said, “I am all for debate, but not for one-sided meetings that give a platform for terrorism.”
She continued: “Hamas is not a resistance group; it’s not just a nationalist organisation; it has always been a jihadist organisation with an uncompromising mission to wipe Israel out and murder Jews. It wants to establish an Islamic state in the land of Israel with Sharia law.”
She added later that “there must be peace with Palestinians, but until and unless Hamas is gone and the ideology that underpins it is gone, then we are kidding ourselves in thinking understanding Hamas is what we need.”
Amid a heavy police presence, the pro-Israel demonstration of about 200 people outnumbered the anti-Israel side – a rarity at public events since October 7. Dozens of Israeli flags and Union Jacks were waved, as well as a couple of traditional Iranian Pahlavi flags. Flown on the anti-Israel side, as well as Palestinian flags, were Irish flags and one from the Islamic Human Rights Council.
A “resistance is justified” flag was suspended temporarily from a window of the LSE building above the demonstrations, and anti-Israel sentiments were projected across the front of the building in large lettering.
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The pro-Israel group was a coalition of Jewish and interfaith groups led by Stop the Hate UK alongside Remember 7/10, Christian Action Against Antisemitism, Our Fight, Hexagon Society, LSEU Jewish Society, and others.
Claudia Mendoza, co-chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, claimed the book and event are an attempt “to distort the truth about Hamas” and the October 7 atrocities.
“In the past 16 months, we have seen antisemitism surge to unprecedented and unacceptable levels. Our streets have been filled with protesters screaming antisemitic chants, and on campuses like this one our students have faced relentless waves of abuse,” she said.
For one of the most prestigious universities in the country to host an event of this nature is “yet another assault on not just the Jewish community but everyone who shares our values of freedom and liberty,” she said.
“Yes, we should all understand Hamas better. But an event which claims Hamas has been wrongly vilified and demonised since October 7 risks legitimising Hamas, a proscribed terrorist organisation under UK law, rather than critically analysing its actions, ideology, and impact.”
She added, “One thing we cannot do enough is vilify Hamas. There is no nuance needed, [Hamas has] brought death and destruction to Israelis and Palestinians alike.”
Both camps let off foghorns and sirens throughout the demonstration, attempting to drown the other side out. Songs were played through several speakers on the Israel side, while just some three metres away across a narrow walkway into the building, the pro-Palestinian side chanted Zionism “has got to go”.
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People on the anti-Israel side, many of whom were masked, held large banners that called on LSE to “divest” from Israel and one that said, “Keep fascists off our campus!” One young man held a sign that said “LSE Jews against Zionism,” and one lady carried one that said “Don’t talk to cops” with the letter “o” replaced by the drawing of a pig.
Sami Berkoff, campaigns director at the Union of Jewish Students, said it was a “profound moral failure” that such an event was allowed to take place.
She said she spoke to two LSE students earlier in the day who did not attend their classes today because they “are scared about what might happen to them” on campus.
“This is unacceptable,” she said, “no student should feel unsafe simply for being Jewish.”
She went on: “LSE had a choice. It could have ensured that this event included the explicit recognition that Hamas is a terrorist organisation responsible for unspeakable war crimes. It could have taken action to protect its Jewish students.
“Instead, it has sent a chilling message, that Jewish safety is expendable, that terrorism can be rationalised, and that academic freedom can be weaponised to launder extremism.”
The “Understanding Hamas” book, co-edited by British-American writer Helena Cobban and Jordanian-American journalist Rami G. Khouri, claims Hamas transformed from “early anti-Jewish tendencies to a stance that differentiates between Judaism and Zionism.”
It argues the demonisation of Hamas “intensified after the events in southern Israel on October 7,” and is now being branded “as ‘terrorist’ or worse”.
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Itai, a founder of Stop the Hate, told the crowd: “We already understand everything we need to know about Hamas. It seems LSE has gotten a little confused, [so] let me help.
“Did we try to understand the Nazis while fighting them? I don’t think we did. Did we try to understand ISIS while the soldiers of Great Britain were over there fighting in Afghanistan? I don’t think we did. But now, for some reason, when it’s Jews, a group of self-important, so-called scholars who in my professional opinion are suffering from a severe case of white saviourism syndrome, have decided to tell us somehow that we in the West are all wrong.”
He added: “We are here tonight to say it clearly: We saw Hamas on October 7 for exactly what they are. We felt them, we saw them for what they are, and you so-called scholars and academics don’t get to tell us that we don’t understand Hamas.”
