Open Letter to the Oxford Union: Restore susan abulhawa’s uncensored speech.

We, the undersigned, demand the Oxford Union immediately restore susan abulhawa’s full speech, delivered in the November 2024 OU debate.

The facts:

1. The Union removed multiple sections from abulhawa’s speech without her consent, thereby not only perverting her intellectual property but also tarnishing her reputation by claiming edits were made for legal compliance, falsely implying that she broke the law.
2. In truth, everything in abulhawa’s speech is supported by the historical record. The quote at the top of this letter is one such removed passage – Israeli soldiers leaving booby-trapped toys that exploded when children picked them up in southern Lebanon in the 1980s is a matter of public record, cited in the UK Parliament and multiple reports and periodicals at the time.
3. The European Legal Support Center (ELSC) filed a discrimination claim on behalf of abulhawa. The Oxford Union has ignored legal requests to restore the speech and failed to comply fully with abulhawa’s subject access request. The case is now with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
4. The Union’s own Standing Committee voted to restore the full speech, and in defiance of their own internal rules, the Oxford Union has ignored that vote, provided no explanation why, nor has identified who overruled it.

susan abulhawa’s speech belongs in the historical record of Israel’s livestreamed genocide in Gaza. Erasing abulhawa’s words does not change the barbaric reality of this moment but serves to conceal it.

susan abulhawa is a Palestinian writer who refuses to let the world forget what Palestine has endured for 78 years and continues to endure today. Her case is representative of a broader pattern of repression targeting Palestinians, their narratives, and those who stand in solidarity with them in Britain and beyond.

We call on the Oxford Union to respect its internal protocols and procedures, and to honour its stated commitment to “the free exchange of ideas” by restoring susan abulhawa’s speech in full, immediately and without alteration.

We sign this letter encouraged by abulhawa’s refusal to quietly accept the Union’s alteration of her speech. Her resistance calls for ours, because we refuse to accept a political culture that treats Palestinian voices as negotiable, editable, or disposable — and we call on the Oxford Union to do the right thing.

Signed,

For reference, here is the full uncensored speech, copied from the Oxford Union's YouTube channel before it was replaced with the censored version. Watch the full speech.