An old acquaintance of mine, who once held the prestigious position of president at the Oxford Union, recently revisited the renowned debating society. To his surprise, he noticed a collection of Islamic prayer mats tucked in a corner, signifying an encouragement of public Muslim worship.
This sight was a stark reminder of how much the atmosphere at the Union has evolved since his leadership two decades ago. “The Union has been overtaken by hardline Muslims and progressive radicals,” he remarked, a hint of disbelief in his voice.
Nowadays, even leisure activities at the iconic Victorian building on Oxford’s St Michael’s Street have not escaped the grasp of political influence.
Recently, it came to light that the Union’s annual ball, themed ‘Al Andalus’—a nod to the historical period when parts of Spain and Portugal were under Islamic rule—had partnered with the Palestinian Forum in Britain. This organization is notably connected to Zaher Birawi, who has been identified as a ‘Hamas operative’.
These days, even downtime is politicised at the famous Victorian building on St Michael’s Street, Oxford.
Last week, it emerged that the union’s annual ball – with the theme ‘Al Andalus’, the area of Spain and Portugal that fell under Islamic domination in the Middle Ages – was partnered with the Palestinian Forum in Britain, an organisation with strong links to Zaher Birawi, a man described as a ‘Hamas operative’.
This and other recent scandals suggest that something has gone badly wrong with Britain’s most prestigious university society.
Founded in 1823, it has the feel of a miniature parliament and has incubated generations of politicians.
Past presidents have included a constellation of luminaries, from William Gladstone to Boris Johnson.
Arwa Elrayess, 19, is the Union’s second president of Palestinian descent. Her great-grandfather was mayor of Gaza in the decades after Israel’s birth
A cartoon circulating among students after Elrayess’ election depicted them as wresting control of the Union from a powerful enemy, including Jews
The debating chamber, meanwhile, has been graced by Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, Mother Teresa and even King Charles.
Fast-forward to 2026, however, and a motion of no-confidence was moved against the president, Arwa Elrayess, on Thursday.
In leaked WhatsApp messages, she described the butchery, rape and kidnapping of October 7 as ‘proportional’ and insisted that one day the jihadis of Hamas – which she described as a ‘resistance group’ – would be ‘lauded as heroes’.
Elrayess, 19, is the Union’s second president of Palestinian descent (the first, whom she does not tend to acknowledge, was Gershon Hirsch, a Palestinian Jew who became president in 1941).
Born in London to an academic father from a distinguished Palestinian clan and an Algerian mother, Elrayess moved with her family to Gaza at the age of five.
Her great-grandfather was mayor of Gaza in the decades after Israel’s birth, while her grandfather, Nahid Munir al-Rayyes, served as justice minister for the governing Palestinian Authority, which was routed from Gaza by Hamas in a bloody civil war in 2007.
Elrayess’s time in the Strip was formative. ‘You don’t really forget what you see there,’ she told Turkish media last year.
She then continued her schooling at Doha College in Qatar, one of the Middle East’s most prestigious private schools based on a British curriculum, where she was head girl.
Academically, she is ambitious. According to her LinkedIn, she achieved the ‘Highest Mark in Qatar for A-level History’ and ‘Highest Mark in the World’ for ‘international AS and A-level’ economics.
She matriculated at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, in 2024, and became Union president 18 months later.
If there has been a struggle for the soul of the Union, then Elrayess and her fellow travellers are in the ascendancy.
A disturbing cartoon circulating among students after her election depicted them as wresting control of the Union from a powerful enemy, including Jews.
Obtained by the Daily Mail, the cartoon depicts an idealised Elrayess, draped in a keffiyeh, lounging with her allies on a leather armchair.
Crushed underneath are their opponents. These include Jewish student Katie Pannick, who was defeated as Treasurer, and Daniel Eldridge, who often attends synagogue on shabbat.
Cenk Uygur, pictured, was barred from entering Britain ahead of scheduled appearances in London and Oxford
He is portrayed with a hooked nose and shifty eyes. Another student, Liza Barkova, is depicted as a lizard, often used by Gen-Z conspiracy theorists as a symbol of the elites who supposedly control the world.
What has gone so badly wrong in the heart of Oxford? Disturbingly, such views are growing in popularity at Britain’s increasingly subversive universities.
A survey released on Thursday revealed more than a quarter of undergraduates believed that the October 7 depravities were ‘defensible’. Other studies have shown that 20 per cent of students would not want to share a house with a Jew.
Oxford has emerged as a particular hotbed of bigotry. Samuel Williams, the undergraduate who faces prosecution for stirring up racial hatred after he was filmed chanting ‘Gaza, Gaza, make us proud, put the Zios [Zionists] in the ground’, is a student at Balliol College, though he is suspended.
The Union has become the heart of such controversies. On Monday, the Home Office denied entry visas to US social media firebrand Cenk Uygur and his nephew, Hasan Piker, both known for their extreme anti-Israel and anti-Western views.
Unsurprisingly, the pair were due to address the Oxford Union, which has vowed to persist with today’s event via livestream.
‘There has been a collapse in the ability to think critically at university,’ said Jonathan Hunter of the Pinsker Centre, a think-tank that fosters balanced discussion about Israel on campus.
‘Many students are now intellectually unable to construct arguments and weigh evidence. They all see themselves as activists and follow the herd.’
Rather than debates, Hunter added, the Union now ‘curates spectacles’ starring figures who will attract attention on social media.
‘They search out bottom-of-the-barrel provocateurs to defend Israel, in the hope they will look ridiculous online. People are flattered by the invitation and don’t realise they are being taken for a ride.’
Moderate students are concerned about the direction in which the establishment is heading.
One undergraduate from a Muslim country said: ‘If I brought my family here and they saw the prayer mats, they would say, what the hell is this? There’s a mosque in Oxford. Go to the mosque. Why are you making a statement?’
Some, however, argue that the Union has always flirted with taboo. In 1933, it famously debated ‘this House will under no circumstances fight for its King and country’ and when I was an undergraduate, the Holocaust denier David Irving was invited to speak.
But something has changed. In the 1930s, many of the men who voted not to fight ended up doing just that in the Second World War, some making the ultimate sacrifice.
Similarly, in 2001, Irving’s appearance was cancelled after a furious campaign from dons and Union members. Today, by contrast, there are signs that many students agree with the extremism espoused by the likes of Uygur and Piker.
‘You can tell the quality of the debates by the motions,’ my friend told me. ‘Every month there is a debate on Israel. It’s never on anything sensible, like whether settler violence is an obstacle to the two-state solution. Instead, every motion suggests Israel is a stain on the world that does not deserve to exist.’
In 2024, the Union debated ‘this House believes Israel is an apartheid state responsible for genocide’. The event descended into a ‘mess of anti-Semitism’. Pro-Israel speakers were heckled, including the son of a Holocaust survivor.
A low point came when students voted that they would not have tipped off Israeli authorities about Hamas’s plans for October 7.
Much of the change lies in the membership, which is more international than in the past.
Partly, this is because Oxford’s Saïd Business School – established in the Nineties with money from a Syrian businessman – offers free life membership of the Union to all Masters and DPhil (PhD) students, many of whom are from overseas.
That amounts to about 550 new members a year at a cost to Saïd of about £120,000. The effect on the balance of members is profound, as only about a dozen undergraduates join from each of the other colleges.
With a declining membership and crumbling building, the Union is reliant on Saïd.
This cosmopolitanism is reflected in Union officials. Although 70 per cent of Oxford undergraduates are white, eight out the last ten Union presidents have been non-white, and three of the last five Muslim.
As the Union is unregulated and unaccountable to the university, there are few signs it will change direction any time soon. ‘A huge amount of our cultural inheritance is being lost,’ the former president said.
‘I can only hope that one day, we will come to our senses.’
– Never Again? How The West Betrayed The Jews And Itself, by Jake Wallis Simons, is out now
