LSE turns ‘blind eye’ to academics accused of supporting Hamas attacks on day of horror

Sara Salem, an assistant professor of sociology, expressed “solidarity” with “the resistance” on October 7 and stated: “Settlers are not the victims here and never will be”.

In another post, Salem said the attacks were a “massive resistance offensive in Gaza. Palestinian Resistance fighters have infiltrated the border for the first time in history and have taken control of areas in the Israeli settlement of Sderot”.

Sonya Onwu, an assistant professor in the LSE law school, re-posted a message on the day of the massacre which said: “Decolonisation has never and will never happen in the halls of academia - decolonisation is this: the ripping down of walls and taking your freedom by any means necessary”.

She shared another post on October 7 that said: “Palestinians have the right to resist colonialism! Palestinians have the right to resist occupation! Palestinians have the right to resist apartheid! Palestinians have the right to resist displacement! Palestinians have the right to live with dignity in their own land!”.

The university refused to say whether it was investigating the posts, adding that its policy was not to “monitor, control or curtail the social media use of our faculty as long as it remains within the law”.

However, expressing support for Hamas, a proscribed terrorist group, is an offence under the Terrorism Act 2000, punishable with a prison sentence of up to 14 years.

The campaign group UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), which reported the academics to the police, has also made complaints to LSE President and Vice Chancellor Professor Eric Neumayer. ​

He refused to discuss their cases, saying only that the university considers both “freedom of expression” and “mutual respect” to be important.

He added that on 9 October, the school’s management committee – a body that Neumayer chairs – issued a message to all LSE students and staff, “in which we drew attention to the support available to all those impacted”. He said he “reminded everyone of the importance of acting with consideration, compassion and kindness to all staff, all students, and the wider School community”.

Caroline Turner, a UKLFI director, commented: “We have written to LSE on four separate occasions about their academics who appear to be openly voicing their support for Hamas in the aftermath of the October 7 massacre.

“Yet every time we are given bland statements about the importance of ‘mutual respect’ and ‘freedom of expression’. Not once have we been advised that any action whatsoever will be taken against their employees. It seems that LSE prefers to turn a blind eye to the series of terror tweets by its own academics, rather than tackle the issue head on.

“The fact that academics can glorify Hamas so openly, with no restraint whatsoever from the university, makes Jewish students feel unsafe. The university claims that its priority is the ‘safety and wellbeing’ of the community - but its failure to take robust action in these instances makes Jewish students feel like second class citizens.”

She added that most universities had “responded well and taken action” to similar complaints, “but we have been shocked at the seeming lack of concern by LSE, where there appears to be a particular problem with anti-Israel hate among academics.”

The academics were contacted for comment by the JC.