Israel envoy appearance at London university shelved ‘over security concerns’

A scheduled talk by Israeli Ambassador Mark Regev at City University in London yesterday night was “shelved after concerns over security”, according to reports.

In the lead up to Regev’s appearance, the university’s Palestinian Society had organised and published a joint letter from the university community’s Palestinian students, along with many other student societies and the City University BME Officer, raising serious concerns.

The letter highlighted, amongst other things, well-founded worries about the impact of the Israeli ambassador’s presence on campus for the safety and welfare of Palestinian students in particular.

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Meanwhile, pro-Israel activists on campus claimed that the decision to cancel was the latest in “a series of events and developments at City that have caused Jewish students to feel threatened”.

The joint statement with the Union of Jewish Students accused City of having “deliberately failed in their obligation” to “balance freedom of speech with the legitimate right to peaceful protest”.

The statement did not address the specifics of Palestinian students’ concerns.

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