Poisonous environment created at Exeter as Hate Speaker is given a platform

He was invited by the Friends of Palestine Society (FOP) at the University, but despite verbal and written objections raised by UJS and representatives of Exeter Jewish Society, the invitation was still extended to him.

This allowed Atzmon to say hateful comments on a platform sponsored by the University of Exeter.

Atzmon told listeners that "Hitler was right" and that AIPAC were the "Jewish lobby in America" and 'Antisemitism doesn't exist.'
Universities should be places where the pursuit of academic excellence and legitimate debate can take place in an atmosphere free from hate.

The universities sabbatical officers had even given assurances in advance that the talk would be closed should comments be deemed to be antisemitic. However, when these incidents did arise they failed to stop him speaking.

His comments created an environment so poisonous and threatening that a number of Jewish students felt compelled to leave and some students felt utterly distraught by what they heard.

The University of Exeter, together with the Student Guild, will need to do a great deal of soul-searching to restore their university's reputation for academic excellence and explain why they let such an event take place. No Pro-Palestinian groups on campus should be engaging with such a divisive and intolerant rhetoric which is damaging to Jewish students.