The UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine last month attended a talk at UCL in defiance of opposition from external groups placing pressure on the University to cancel the event.
Francesca Albanese, 48, was appointed by the United Nations in 2022 to report on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The international human rights lawyer has been openly critical of the Israeli occupation and last year told the UN Human Rights Council that Israel’s actions in Palestine amounted to genocide.
In an email seen by The Cheese Grater, organisers told attendees they were aware of “groups opposing free speech” that pressured UCL to cancel the event, held on the same day Israel broke the ceasefire and killed over 400 Palestinians overnight.
Organisers said: “On the day when Israel has resumed its genocidal attacks on Gaza, killing more than 400 people, it is more essential than ever that this event goes ahead.
“The right of students and staff to hold events on their campus is an essential part of our academic freedom and our right to freedom of expression.”
They added defiantly: “This event will go ahead.”
The talk, jointly organised by UCL Jews for Palestinian Justice, UCL Action for Palestine, and UCL’s chapter of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Movement, took place on 18 March at the IOE and attracted over a hundred students and staff.
On Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that the deadly airstrikes which broke the ceasefire were “just the beginning”, the UN Special Rapporteur said: “Palestinian people aren’t seen as people. They are numbers at best.”
Asked what insights she had gained on the job, Albanese said it was actually the UN that should be learning from student activists, who were “standing against the ‘invisiblisation’ of the Palestinian people.”
Outside the IOE, a small group of about 30 pro-Israel demonstrators protesting the event was met with a significantly larger pro-Palestine counterprotest on Bedford Way.
One pro-Israel protester claimed Albanese was a “Jew hater” because “whatever she says about Jews and about Israel… is a lie” whilst alleging the event was “inciting violence”.
Meanwhile, organisers raised concerns about the safety of its attendees after a far-right Zionist group made a thinly veiled threat on Twitter to attack Albanese and to “build lists [sic] of people who must be deported from the UK.”
During the standoff, police arrested Niyak Ghorbani, a prominent pro-Israel activist who was charged with a public order offence after he was seen approaching counterprotesters, as well as two counts of assault of a police officer during a separate incident last September.
A UCL spokesperson said: “We view the right to protest, debate and challenge ideas as fundamental to freedom of speech, which we have a legal duty to promote, and this means hosting external speakers that can divide opinion and provoke debate, in both opposition and support.
“All speaker events at UCL undergo due diligence and must follow our Code of Practice on Freedom of Speech, and we put measures in place to ensure the safety and security of those attending.”
Additional reporting by Nick Miao
