UCL Students for Justice in Palestine Society (SJP) have been banned from hosting events pending a full investigation, UCL has announced in a statement by the Provost Michael Spence.
In SJP’s event titled “The Birth of Zionism”, former UCL researcher Dr Samar Maqusi shared “shocking antisemitic falsehoods”, according to the organisation “StandWithUs”.
In the recording taken by an attendant, Dr Maqusi can be heard espousing a longstanding antisemitic conspiracy about Jews using the blood of non-Jews in religious rituals.
She claims that there is a story about the Feast of Tabernacles, commemorated by the Jewish holiday Sukkot, in which “drops of blood from someone who’s not Jewish […] has to be mixed in that bread.”
The blood libel trope is more commonly associated with bread eaten at Passover as opposed to the Feast of Tabernacles.
Antisemitic theories about the use of gentile blood in bread date back over a century, such as in the 1903 Kishiniev Pogrom, in which almost 50 Jews were killed in the Russian Empire following a local newspaper report alleging that Jews were “using Christian blood for ritual purposes”.
StandWithUs say that such myths have “fuelled centuries of violence against Jewish communities”, and that “such hate-filled lies have no place in any academic institution”.
Following the spreading of this clip on social media, UCL has stated that they have reported this incident to the police and banned Dr Maqusi from campus.
A full investigation by the university has also been launched, and disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against a number of students.
UCL also expressed their “unequivocal apology to all Jewish students, staff, alumni, and the wider community.”
In response to UCL’s statement, StandWithUs stated that it “welcomes the decisive steps announced by UCL in response to the shocking antisemitic content exposed,” and that “that joint effort [with UCL] rejected silence and demanded meaningful action rather than vague assurances.”
The Cheese Grater approached UCL SJP for comment but did not hear back by press time.
