KCL Students’ Union victim-blames hosts for disrupted speaking event instead of anti-Israel protesters responsible for sabotage

In a staggering decision, the King’s College London (KCL) Students’ Union has apparently issued a “formal warning” against a student society that hosted a speaking event which was disrupted by anti-Israel activists with chants of “From the River to the Sea” rather than the protesters themselves.

The genocidal chant ‘From the River to the Sea’, which is regularly heard at anti-Israel protests, refers to the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea, and, whether intended or not, is widely understood to represent a call for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state — and its replacement with a Palestinian state. It is reasonably interpreted to be a call for the annihilation of half the world’s Jews, who live in Israel.

The event, which took place on 27th February, was titled ‘From Conflict to Connection: Israelis & Iranians in Dialogue’, and featured guest speaker Faezeh Alavi, an Iranian researcher and artist, speaking sympathetically about the future of Israel and Iran. The chanting came as part of a barrage of intimidation tactics targeting Ms Alavi and the organiser of the event. Security was forced to escort Ms Alavi out of the lecture theatre, and the event was swiftly and abruptly terminated. Students then continued their abuse and disruption outside the lecture theatre and throughout the corridors of the building.

Following the incident, we wrote to the University calling on the administration to take action and we have been supporting the Jewish KCL student who moderated the event.

Speaking to Campaign Against Antisemitism, the student said that prior to the event taking place, their day started normally. However, as the day progressed, they became “acutely aware that the event may cause some unnecessary commotion and welcome some unreceptive audience members” owing to spurious information appearing on the event’s sign-up sheet.

As the event started, the organiser noticed a senior member of the group KCL Students For Justice For Palestine (KCL SJP) – an official society at the University – sitting near the front. Approximately fifteen minutes into the event, a “pre-planned” and “premeditated” outburst occurred, the student told Campaign Against Antisemitism. The student said that Ms Alavi “was alarmed at the levels of anger and abuse hurled at her during the disruption.”

The student said: “From what was supposed to be an opportunity to bring together two uncommon allies and opinions that are often silenced in a world flooded with misinformation, became a wholly negative experience where antisemitism was given a lecture room to spread and be promoted to the masses under the guise of being anti-Israel.”

The student alleges that KCL offered virtually no support to him following the incident.

Addressing the aftermath directly after the incident, the student said: “From 20:00 onwards, my phone was blowing up. Messages from people checking in with me, people reposting the event disruption on Instagram, Faezeh’s post going viral, receiving messages from media wanting to speak to me as soon as possible, and so forth. The one message I did not receive on the night of – or for days after and even now weeks later – was a message from anyone at KCL to check in with me.

“It seems as if the mental hell that I had been dragged through was not enough to get in contact with me. Quite telling, isn’t it? To this day, I am yet to hear from any member of security or any member of a ministerial or senior level at KCL consoling myself, Faezeh, or my guests, or apologising for the disruption.”

The student has now also revealed that the KCL SJP Society has since reached out to him, but “failed to apologise directly”.

The student is also now disclosing that, at 12:55 on 8th March – ten days after the incident – the student received an e-mail from KCL’s Students’ Union (KCLSU) informing them that rather than taking action against those who disrupted the event, it was KCL’s Geopolitics Forum – the society to which the student belongs – that received a “formal warning”.

In an e-mail seen by Campaign Against Antisemitism, it was stated that supposed misconduct on the part of the Geopolitics Forum included “behaviour that has a negative impact on other people,” “theft, misuse of funds or damage to KCLSU property,” “actions that are in contravention of KCLSU’s values and likely to damage the reputation of KCLSU or KCL,” and “actions that knowingly or willingly expose KCLSU to threat of legal action”. The e-mail appears to be a staggering example of victim-blaming.

The student forwarded this e-mail to a senior KCL staff member, who allegedly referred to the action as “a clumsy move” from the Students’ Union.

When asked whether they felt that the University was supporting its Jewish students, the student replied: “This is drivel. Total nonsense.”

We reached out to KCLSU but they declined to provide a comment, citing confidentiality around student disciplinary issues.

A spokesperson for KCL said: “We are investigating the disruption at a recent student society event in line with our policies and procedures for protest. We fully support and are committed to upholding the right of freedom of speech and of protest within the law, however the safety and wellbeing of our community and visitors to our campuses is our absolute priority. Since October 7 we have engaged with our Israeli, Jewish and wider student societies, to listen to any concerns and provide extensive pastoral support. In response to concerns for safety, both on campus and across London more generally, we have enhanced security measures to keep our community safe on campus.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “This appears to be a bad case of victim-blaming. KCL and its students’ union should be protecting its Jewish students, not persecuting them. Is it any wonder that only 3% of British Jews are confident that if a Jewish student reported an antisemitic incident on campus, the university’s administration would take appropriate action? This incident is a stain on KCL. It should issue an apology to the Jewish student and finally go after not the victim but the people who perpetrated the disruption of the event.”

If any students are concerned about antisemitism on campus or need assistance, they can call us on 0330 822 0321, or e-mail [email protected].