In December 2023, the Israel Defence Forces found military infrastructure at Al-Azhar, which it said Hamas had used for attacks on Israeli forces.
Rocket components, launchers and explosives were found by the IDF during their investigation, as well as an underground passage leading from the university courtyard to a nearby school.
IDF troops uncovered terror infrastructure used for Hamas’ military activity in the Al-Azhar University located in Rimal in the Gaza Strip (Israel-Hamas War IDF)[Missing Credit]
Now Al-Azhar is one of the Gaza universities which is collaborating with British campuses.
Bath, as well as University College London (UCL) and Edinburgh University have connections with the institution.
When universities collaborate with other institutions or invite speakers into lectures they must conduct a risk assessment – it is not clear if that was completed by Bath for the Al-Azhar lecture.
Last week, second year Bath students were sent a set of strict guidelines to the class with Al-Azhar.
In an email sent on October 7, course leader Dr Kateřina Vráblíková told the politics students to defer to their Palestinian counterparts’ experience of the conflict and not express their own views or experience.
She acknowledged that students would hear “only from one side of a complex situation,” and advised them against “attempting to balance the discussion”.
Introducing a “few guidelines for our interaction” ahead of the joint class, which she informed students of on the anniversary of the Hamas attack, Vráblíková, said UK students should let those in Gaza “own their conflict”.
The academic, who researches social movements and protest, said: “We must agree that they are the experts on the conflict in Palestine, while we are not. From our experience, this is the only effective way to engage in joint classes with universities in conflict areas.”
She advised students that they should appear uninformed rather than offer a view or even an expression of sympathy.
“It is far better to remain (or even to appear) uncertain or uninformed about their situation than to attempt to express sympathy through oversimplified views of the conflict. Such views, however well-intentioned, may come across as insensitive or even hurtful given the immense complexity of all conflicts, including those in Palestine.”
People walk past buildings of the the damaged Al-Azhar university in Gaza City on January 3, 2026. (Getty Images)AFP via Getty Images
The second guideline addressed the “division of labour and expertise”.
Palestinian participants would be invited to assess which “theoretical perspectives” were “relevant, useful, and accurate in their context.”
“We bring insights from part of the world, and they determine which ideas resonate with their experience. Our role is not to guide that selection but to contribute comparative perspectives,” she said.
The final instruction was to “avoid causing emotional hurt”.
Vráblíková warned that students could cause distress by pressing their own interpretations, even if they believed the discussion lacked balance.
“If we insist on promoting our own interpretations, we may unintentionally cause distress. While we recognise that we will be hearing only from one side of a complex situation, it is best to refrain from attempting to ‘balance’ the discussion with our own views: both out of respect and out of emotional sensitivity.”
A spokesperson for the University of Bath thanked the JC for raising the “important issue” and confirmed the joint online classes with students from Al-Azhar University had been cancelled.
“The timing and content of the email from one of our lecturers had already been raised with them, and they have subsequently apologised unreservedly for both the timing of the message and the distress caused by its content, which they acknowledge was inappropriate,” the spokesperson said.
“As a university, we are sorry for the distress and concern to members of our community and beyond. We will be working alongside our colleagues to learn from this and improve our approach in the future.
“The University of Bath is fully committed to upholding our Code of Practice on Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom and we strive to be an environment where challenging issues can be discussed openly and respectfully, while ensuring all members of our community feel safe and supported.”
