Former IDF soldier’s talk at London university sparks controversy

A protest broke out in University College of London (UCL) yesterday evening after Israeli Education Director for lobby group StandWithUs, Hen Mazzig, arrived to deliver a talk.

During the protest, Mazzig was called out for being a “war criminal” and for his support of Israeli settlements in the West Bank which have rendered thousands of Palestinians homeless. The lobby group he works with is known for denying that settlements are even a problem and have said in a statement that rather than settlements being an obstacle to peace, the Palestinian leadership in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip deter any peaceful settlement to the Palestine-Israel conflict.

EXCLUSIVE: Video shows ‘Islamophobic’ outburst by Student Rights employee at an event, organized by the Friends of Israel society for UCL

Mazzig has also served five years in the IDF and was a lieutenant in the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) unit, which is the part of the Israeli military that implements the Israeli government’s policy in the occupied Palestinian territories.

After the protests, which the police intercepted, many took to social media to express their discontent and to debate the decision of Mazzig being allowed to speak at UCL. Many were angered by his Tweet: “I had to be rushed out of the event at @UCL with security. The campus was the war zone and the streets are the safe place. I’m out. My god.”

https://twitter.com/falbadri1995/status/791752663197159424

In a statement, the UCLU Friends for Palestine Society defended its right to protest. The group said Mazzig supports settlements which are “grave violations of international law, and it is reasonable for students to protest an event at which these crimes are whitewashed and defended.”

They also confirmed that “the UCL security and police confirmed that the protest ended safely.” No arrests were made by police.

https://twitter.com/eloiserosalie/status/791763110856159232

Israeli army propagandist @HenMazzig got a good Olmerting at UCL last night, his talk was curtailed by protest: https://t.co/YgWAjI08Xl

— Asa Winstanley (@AsaWinstanley) October 28, 2016

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.