The president of the Oxford Union has condemned Hamas in comments to the JC following an uproar over leaked messages in which she described the October 7 atrocities as “proportional” and suggested that terrorist groups were sometimes later “lauded as heroes”.
The leaked remarks by Arwa Elrayess, 20, a philosophy, politics and economics undergraduate, provoked outrage among some members of the debating society and prompted a motion of no confidence in her leadership last Thursday.
Proposing the motion, non-Jewish member Ben Ashworth asked Elrayess to explicitly condemn Hamas – which, he said, she failed to do at the time.
Speaking to the JC, however, Elrayess said: “I condemn Hamas' targeting of innocent civilians, just as I condemn the targeting of innocent civilians by the IDF or any other actor.
“I have consistently maintained this position.”
Speaking in the debating chamber, Ashworth also accused the president of conduct that contributed “to an atmosphere of harassment that is fundamentally incompatible with the inclusive environment this society must uphold”.
Elrayess said in her responses to the JC: “I have consistently advocated for open debate and dialogue. During my term as President, I deliberately platformed views that were fundamentally opposed to my own because I believe universities should be places where difficult and contested issues can be discussed openly, even when doing so carries personal and professional costs.”
The no-confidence motion later failed, gaining 116 signatures – 34 short of the 150 required.
Ashworth, 20, a second-year history student, revealed on Monday to the Telegraph he had been accused of supporting genocide and taking money from the “pro-Israel lobby” as he was running to be elected secretary of the union.
The abusive social media posts by fellow students – including references to him as “Ben Netanyahu Trashworth” – came after he had visited Israel on a fact-finding trip to Israel.
Following the attacks, Ashworth was prevented from running in an electoral pact by fellow students because they reportedly feared he would “bring down the whole team”.
One of Elrayess’s leaked WhatsApp comments came in response to a comment that “Hamas is the government of Palestine, the West calls it terrorist…”
Elrayess wrote: “Hamas is the government of Gaza specifically, not the West Bank. The West never recognised the Hamas government because A) They were always vocal about their commitment to the liberation struggle B) They were not the PA, who the West and Israelis had already bought over.
“Any resistance group will inevitably be deemed a ‘terrorist’ organisation by the West until they achieve their liberation (by which time, they’ll be lauded as heroes, as history has repeatedly proven).”
She added that “what’s important to note is that the political wing of Hamas is separate to its military wing”.
One group member commented that he did not understand Elrayess’s comment in relation to Hamas, saying “their actions have been too bad and severe” to be considered a “liberation struggle”.
Elrayess responded: “I think the severity of resistance is often proportional to the severity of oppression. It would be laughable if, for example, any Palestinian group tried to gain their freedom by chaining themselves to the gates of their borders. There were various, more peaceful forms of resistance in the past that ended with nothing but massacres.
“This is not to justify anything but just to point out that it’s quite rich to allow for decades of oppression and massacres, only to be shocked when the resistance movement responds with proportional severity.”
One group member says he is “amazed that you describe Hamas’ actions as ‘proportional’.” Elrayess responded: “I am actually. In fact some would argue it’s less than proportional. Have you seen what Israel has put Palestinians through for decades? Proportional does not mean right by the way.”
Speaking in the debating chamber in response to Ashworth, Elrayess, who spent part of her childhood in Gaza, said it was “disappointing that at every stage of my existence as a Palestinian there seems to always be this post-mortem vilification of Palestinians in any way shape or form.
“When I ran for my election, I got accusations of being affiliated and in the same family of Hamas operatives – they used the name of my father to show that I was related to a Hamas operative upon which he received much abuse.
"It is one of many examples of this constant targeting and attempt to find any singular reason to put down Palestinians because Palestinians when they talk are for some reason a danger.
“Our very existence is something that is scary and something that needs to be criticised and something that needs to be vilified they attribute things to us that are false and defamatory. And it is non-stop, it is never ending and I am sick of it.
“I have had to grow up with this idea in the back of my mind that I have to be so careful about every single little thing I say … because god forbid, someone takes something out of context and puts it in the Telegraph.
She then turned to the substance of the allegations, saying: “The events of October 7th involve the killing of Jewish civilians and their suffering - I think they were horrible events. The events that were experienced by Palestinians before and since also demand recognition and … it is not controversial to say otherwise. Holding space for both issues should not be controversial. Universities should be places where difficult conversation can be held responsibly and in good faith… without fear.
“But I was on a group chat where we were on a political discussion, a little discussion with students in the university. The topic of Palestine and Israel came up I’m a Palestinian who was asked for my opinion. [What I gave was] analysis, not justification.
“It has been reported that I described the October 7 attacks as proportional.. what does that mean? It is something that requires context.. said it explicitly, proportional does not mean right.
"It's also been suggested that I said Hamas would be ‘lauded as heroes’. This characterisation is also false and unfortunately […] the country’s media have taken words out of context.”
Elrayess said she had “no plans to resign” after the messages – which were written before her election – came to light.
The Oxford Students Against Discrimination group said it was “appalled” by the leaked messages and accused her of “actively [contributing] to a culture of fear and exclusion for Jewish members of the university”.
Responding to the backlash about her comments, Elrayess told the Times “all the context had been stripped out” and that they were sent in a “private chat where students were discussing politics because we are politics students and we’re allowed to make analyses.”
Speaking to the JC about the “lauded as heroes” remark, Elrayess said: “The statement was made as a general observation regarding the historical treatment of resistance movements and the way perceptions of such groups can change over time.
“It was not a statement about Hamas specifically, nor did it assert that Hamas would be viewed as heroes in the future.”
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