Oxford Union president faces calls to resign after Hamas ‘proportionality’ comments

The president of the Oxford Union is facing calls to resign after messages from her were leaked in which she suggested that Hamas’s actions were “proportional” and suggested that they would ultimately “be lauded as heroes”.

As reported by The Telegraph, Arwa Elrayess, who is the first person of Palestinian origin to be elected to the role of the illustrious debating society, made the remarks in a private WhatsApp group of around 100 students who were about to take up places at Oxford to study Politics, Philosophy and Economics.

In one of the messages sent by Elrayess, she said that “The West never recognized the Hamas government because: (A) they were always vocal about their commitment to the liberation struggle and (B) they were not the PA, who the West and the Israelis had already bought over. Any resistance group will inevitably be deemed a ‘terrorist’ organization by the West until they achieve their liberation (by which time, they’ll be lauded as heroes, as history has repeatedly proven).”

In another message, Elrayess said: “I think the severity of resistance is often proportional to the severity of oppression”, claiming that “there were various, more peaceful forms of resistance in the past that ended with nothing but massacres.”

She went on to say that “This is not to justify anything, but just to point out that it’s quite rich to allow for decades of systematic oppression and massacres, only to act shocked when the resistance movement responds with proportional severity.”

When another member of the group said: “I’m amazed that you are essentially describing Hamas’s actions as ‘proportional’”, Elrayess replied: “i am actually. in fact, some would argue it’s less than proportional. have u seen what israel has put palestinians through for decades??? proportional does not mean “right” by the way just that u can’t be shocked that it happened”. She went on to say that this “is not a controversial take by any means”.

As further reported by The Telegraph, when Elrayess was asked by a fellow student about her comments regarding how Hamas would be lauded as heroes, she responded by saying that it was merely a “historical observation” that other groups, such as the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the IRA, had used “various forms of guerrilla warfare and violence”, adding: “We’ll see how things unfold as time passes.”

A spokesman for Oxford Students Against Discrimination described the group as “appalled” by the messages, saying that they came “at a time when Jewish students at Oxford have faced an unprecedented rise in harassment, intimidation, and fear.

The spokesman added: “She is actively contributing to a culture of fear and exclusion for Jewish members of the university. We condemn her discriminatory rhetoric in the strongest possible terms. We call for her to resign.”

Elrayess told The Telegraph that she “welcome[d the opportunity to clarify the context, the factual basis, and what I was and was not arguing.

“This was a discussion about proportionality. I do not support or condone breaches of international law – such as the deliberate targeting of civilians, hostage‑taking, the use of famine as a weapon, or any other grave breaches – whether carried out by Hamas or by Israel.

“I expressly stated in my messages that my comments were not an endorsement of violence or an attempt to say it is ‘right’ – this was a theoretical description of the structural context of the conflict, explaining why violence is tragically unsurprising given decades of occupation, blockade, rape, torture, displacement, ethnic cleansing and genocide.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “ “These messages are absolutely sickening attempts to rationalise Hamas’s barbaric terrorist atrocities on 7 October as ‘proportionate’.

“The attacks came during a prolonged ceasefire and involved wanton rape and medieval torture, butchery and murder of civilians.

“Any effort to excuse or explain it away should disqualify someone not only from being the president of the Oxford Union – one of the most prestigious positions at one of the UK’s most elite institutions – but also should render them unfit from holding any position at all.”