Jonathan Sacerdoti (left) is angry at what he sees as a ‘set-up’ (Image: X)
A journalist and regular commentator on Middle Eastern affairs believes he was the victim of a “set-up” when he was invited to address the Oxford Union last week – and pointed the finger at pro-Palestinian students who throughout his speech.
Jonathan Sacerdoti was speaking to Express.co.uk after what he described as a “scary” and “extremely disrespectful” evening at the university where he was once an undergraduate.
Mr Sacerdoti, whose television credits include the and Sky News, had been invited to oppose a motion describing as “an apartheid state”.
He explained: “The entire front row or two were obviously all anti- activists of some variety, many of them wearing hijabs, many of them wearing Palestine clothing.
“One of them was wearing red triangle earrings, which is a Hamas symbol that they use in their videos to indicate little arrows to point to people they’re going to kill.
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“So it was clear that these people were there to disrupt and then just at that point in my speech, one of them screamed at me that I was a liar. I think she screamed ‘genocidal mother******, **** you’.”
Two people on Mr Sacerdoti’s team for the event, on November 28, were Arabs: Mosab Hassan Yousef, an ex-Palestinian militant who defected to in 1997 and who has worked tirelessly ever since to help prevent suicide bombings, and Yoseph Haddad, an Israeli Arab born in Haifa.
Mr Sacerdoti said: “I think the reason that those two got quite so animated is because they can understand what was being shouted at us, because they speak Arabic.
“For example, during Mosab Hassan Yousef’s speech, within the first sort of few couple of sentences, somebody shouted something extremely offensive insult in Arabic.”
Jonathan Sacerdoti was also unhappy that audio of angry exchanges during his speech was cut (Image: X)
Mr Haddad had then told the President of the Union, Ebrahim Osman-Mowafy, who was chairing the debate, to eject the woman who had hurled abuse, Mr Sacerdoti said.
However, he added: “In the meantime, the union security tried to kick out my husband, because he decided that with this abuse going on, he should film what was happening for evidence.
“They tried to kick him out for that before they kicked out the woman that was abusing us. So I told them, ‘You can’t kick him out’.
“Eventually, they agreed that they would remove that woman from the room, and we continued.
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The Oxford Union’s Statement in relation to the debate held on the motion: ‘This House Believes that Israel is an apartheid state responsible for genocide’
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“But the heckling, jeering Arabic insults, none of it stopped from other people in the audience the whole way through, it was extremely disrespectful, but also quite scary for many people in there.”
Asked whether he felt he had been ambushed by the Union, Mr Sacerdoti said: “I have no doubt about it, and I’ve heard from people who were close to the decision making as well since then, that they were appalled at the way we were treated.
“It was carefully orchestrated in certain ways. For example, as the audience came in, the Oxford Union Committee decides who will sit where, and direct people to where they would sit.
“So the fact that we had this bank of hatred behind us and abuse…they knew exactly who they sat there.”
President of the Union, Ebrahim Osman-Mowafy (Image: X)
Mr Sacerdoti was also unhappy that an official video of the event released by the Oxford Union cut the audio as the event descended into chaos roughly eight minutes into his speech.
He added: “They tried to cancel us. They tried to cancel members of our team before the event. They tried to kick out Mosab halfway through his speech. They did kick out Yoseph after his speech.
“They did everything they could to make it clear they had absolutely no respect for us, even though they had invited us.”
In a statement issued after the event, the Oxford Union said: “We are aware that this debate – and others this term – have provoked strong reactions from some of our members and the wider community.
“During the debate, two individuals were directed to withdraw from the floor of the house.
“One was a Member from the audience and the second was an opposition speaker. Both individuals were abusing the forms of the house and before being removed were given warnings.”
Express.co.uk has contacted the Oxford Union for further comment.