At best a complete ignorance of Jewish history and at worst thinly-veiled anti-Semitism

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A Palestine “from the river to the sea” means no Israel, no Israelis, and no security for Jews in the Middle East. Where do the protesters propose the Jews and Israelis go if a Palestinian state were to exist from the river to the sea?

Again, I would like to reiterate that freedom of speech must be protected. Regardless of my own opinions on the matter, to call for a ceasefire, or to advocate for the quick removal of Benjamin Netanyahu, or to express the absolutely critical empathy that is deserved by all the inhabitants of Gaza should be encouraged. Yet the university’s statement fails to address the genocidal aims of Hamas. The latter’s 1988 Charter says: “The day of judgment will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews… when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees.” This could be an exact description of what happened on Oct 7 2023. When Israeli men and women had to hide in cars, under dead bodies, in bushes, and wherever else they could find so as to not be brutally murdered by militant Islamists.

This is what “Palestine from the river to the sea” means. Because, according to this logic, any means are justified if you are fighting a “colonial” regime, and Hamas are simply “freedom fighters” for the Palestinian cause.

Perhaps you think I’m exaggerating? In an Oct 10 statement, publicly available on Instagram, the Cambridge University Palestine Society said the “Israeli regime is entirely responsible” for the “violence” seen on Oct 7. These are the words of actual students from the University of Cambridge. The university’s silence on the slogan “from the river to the sea” used in the occupation of King’s College lawn suggests that those hellbent on the destruction of Jews in the Middle East have a free pass to do so.

Fair and justified criticism of Israeli foreign and internal policy should never be followed by the words “Free Palestine from the river to the sea”, and if we do hear this in Cambridge, it should be denounced while upholding the right to freedom of speech. The rhetoric in general – that Israel and Zionism are Western constructs built exclusively on colonialism – is at best a complete ignorance of Jewish history and at worst thinly-veiled anti-Semitism that the university’s weak response fails to address….