A former soldier says a recent talk he gave at the University of Nottingham turned “dangerous” when some students reportedly chased him as he left campus. Yoseph Haddad says he had to be escorted out of the university through a back entrance out of fear for his safety.
But Haddad says that on his journey from the university to Nottingham train station, some students chased the car carrying him and his fiancée. Yoseph Haddad is a veteran of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Israel’s national military organization.
After being wounded in the Second Lebanon War, Haddad says he wanted to dedicate his life to improving relations between Israel and neighboring Palestine. The conflict between the two countries evolved into its modern phase from 1948, when the creation of the state of Israel was declared and the ensuing war left swaths of territory divided between Israel and Palestine.
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Tensions over these territories remain as high as ever, with the United Nations reporting a “sharp increase” in deaths towards the end of last year. As part of his stated goal of bridging the gap between the two sides, Yoseph Haddad has been touring various universities to share his perspective on the longstanding conflict.
He recently toured a number of UK universities as part of this and gave a lecture at the University of Nottingham’s Park Campus on February 8th. Mr Haddad’s talk, entitled “Life in Israel as an Arab”, was organized by the University of Nottingham Conservative Association and delivered in conjunction with the charity Stand With Us UK, which aims to fight anti-Semitism. in the United Kingdom.
The talk was interrupted when several students started protesting right after Haddad started speaking, with around 100 of them coming out voicing their objections to Israel’s actions and labeling it an “apartheid state”. Haddad said: “I managed to do the whole lecture, but some students started protesting after I greeted them and I wanted to start.
“They turned their back on me and didn’t want to listen. They weren’t open to dialogue, I was trying to tell them ‘listen to what I have to say’, but they just laughed and didn’t want to participate.”
“At the same time, there were students in the hallway who you could hear singing. Throughout the whole lecture, you’d hear them say ‘Yoseph Haddad you’re embarrassed’ or ‘Yoseph Haddad has to go’.”
But it was right out of college that Haddad says things got dangerous. He said: “We went on the road, we got stuck in a bit of traffic and people literally jumped onto the road and were coming towards the car with the intention of attacking me. I’ve had bigger protests against me at other universities but in Nottingham it was the most dangerous because they chased the car, they were very close to me and they were very close to stopping the car.
“At the last second, the light turned green, allowing the car to move, and he saw the students missing the car by seconds. I want to thank all of the security at the university because they did everything they could to keep me safe. .”
In a joint statement from the University of Nottingham and its student union, both institutions said: “As Yoseph did not have onward transport arranged in advance, the university provided a vehicle for his journey to the train station. While we understand that a small number of protesters followed them for a short distance on foot, the security team of the university maintained control of the situation at all times and there was no risk.
“Both the university and the student union are sorry if Yoseph or his fiancée felt unsafe in any way at this time. Our priority is, and always will be, ensuring that student activity is safe, inclusive, dignified, respectful, and responsible. “
But Haddad says he doesn’t fully support the way Nottingham University handled his talk. He said: “The cancel culture is starting to pick up more and more in the UK and I saw that through the tour.
“I’m very happy that the university didn’t give up and allowed the conference to take place, but the fact is that they were allowed to sing within 20 meters of the class itself and you could hear them during the entire conference. This is something that maybe it could have been done a lot better.”
The University of Nottingham and the students’ union added: “We stand for freedom of expression and actively encourage our student community to share ideas in a spirit of mutual respect and intellectual curiosity. Our student societies cover a wide range of beliefs and provide the opportunity to agree, disagree and debate.
“We were pleased to facilitate an event hosted by a student society featuring Yoseph Haddad and we followed our university-approved speaker protocols to ensure the event could take place peacefully while also facilitating the right of students to protest. The The university’s security team was thanked for their approach by the Community Security Trust’s National Student Security Coordinator who was present at the event.”
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