Oxford Union Faces Backlash Over Alleged Censorship of Palestinian Author Susan Abulhawa's Speech

The Oxford Union, widely regarded as the world’s most prestigious debating society, is currently at the center of a significant controversy involving allegations of censorship against Palestinian-American author Susan Abulhawa.

In November 2024, the Union hosted a debate where members overwhelmingly voted that Israel is an "apartheid state responsible for genocide." Susan Abulhawa delivered a speech during this debate, which quickly became a focal point of dispute.

On 5 December 2024, the Union published a version of Abulhawa’s speech on YouTube, which garnered hundreds of thousands of views within days. However, a second version of the video was also uploaded, this one missing 73 seconds of her speech. Sources indicate that this redaction occurred under intense pressure from the Union’s board of trustees.

The trustees, who oversee the Oxford Literary and Debating Union Trust (OLDUT), reportedly threatened to shut down the Union if the full, unedited video was published. This pressure allegedly delayed the release of the complete speech until after the term of Ebrahim Osman-Mowafy, the president who presided over the debate.

In response to the censorship, the Union’s elected standing committee—composed of student members and serving as the institution’s governing body—voted in mid-June 2024 to upload the full, unedited speech of Susan Abulhawa. This decision appeared to directly challenge the trustees’ threats.

Despite this vote, Moosa Harraj, the current president of the Oxford Union and son of Pakistani minister Mohammad Raza Hayat Harraj, has not published the full video. Harraj has publicly stated his support for releasing the speech but claims he is unable to do so due to constraints imposed by the trustees.

Susan Abulhawa has taken legal action against the Oxford Union, filing a lawsuit on 3 March 2025. She accuses the Union of discrimination and copyright infringement, alleging that the society breached a contract signed prior to the debate.

Abulhawa condemned the Union’s actions as "censorship and perversion of the truth," emphasizing that such conduct violates the fundamental right to free speech and is "first and foremost unethical."

She further stated, "It is a grave offence against the historic record of this important moment of this extraordinary time of a live-streamed holocaust, which will surely be studied by generations to come. They have no right to distort or rewrite history, as such, simply because it makes some people uncomfortable."

The controversy has sparked widespread outrage among members of the Oxford Union, an institution founded in 1823 that prides itself on fostering open debate. The dispute highlights ongoing tensions between student governance and trustee oversight, as well as broader debates about free speech, historical narrative, and political expression within academic institutions.

As the legal proceedings continue and the Union grapples with internal divisions, the case raises critical questions about the balance between institutional control and the rights of speakers and members to share unedited content.

The Oxford Union’s handling of Abulhawa’s speech remains a flashpoint in discussions about censorship, academic freedom, and the role of debating societies in addressing contentious political issues.