Amira Halperin, a British-Israeli professor of foreign policy and security in the U.K. and an international commentator, spoke to an August 25 Middle East Forum Podcast (video). The following summarizes her comments:
The Prevent program, an outgrowth of the U.K.’s Counterterrorism and Security Act 2015, is designed to “prevent people from being drawn into terrorism.” One of the program’s core components requires universities to identify those on campus at risk of radicalization. The implementation of the program was “very, very important,” because from 2009 to 2014, several university students radicalized by ISIS “committed terror-related offenses.”
Halperin was threatened more than once by a radicalized student and Hamas supporter emboldened by the October 7 attack.
Prior to the October 7 attack in Israel, university administrators were cowed by vocal campus pro-Palestinian activists who claimed the government discriminated against them. Consequently, administrators were “reluctant to act according to this Prevent duty.” Post-October 7, “the climate at the university became gradually even more hostile.” As an assistant professor in media and communications at Coventry University, Halperin was threatened more than once by a radicalized student and Hamas supporter emboldened by the October 7 attack. This same student had previously threatened a former MP in the U.K.
Halperin reported the student to Prevent, and even though Coventry’s vice chancellor had pronounced the administration’s intent to be supportive of all staff and students immediately after the October 7 massacre, “the university decided not to investigate.” As universities are businesses, they are reluctant to act against tuition-paying Palestinian and pro-Palestinian students whose payments amount to significant income. As a journalist who had researched terrorism in the U.K. and continued her research as an academic for many years, she “knew that Israelis are not safe on campus.” Halperin knew there was a serious threat on campus from more than this single radical and ultimately lost her job because of him.
As the only Israeli professor on campus, Halperin encountered numerous students and Palestinian and pro-Palestinian professors “calling for jihad” and a boycott of Israeli universities and scholars. “When we talk about counterterrorism, we have to bear in mind that what is happening [on] campuses is a reflection of the situation in societies in Europe [at] large and in particular in the U.K., which means that it’s not only on campuses, but the terrorism threat is very much evident outside of campuses as well.”
Post-October 7, pro-Palestinian scholars at Coventry, such as Marwan Darweish, accuse the Jewish state of “genocide” and “occupation” in an effort to garner support for their claim that Israel was responsible for October 7. However, despite her position as a counterterrorism expert, Halperin was subject to a double standard and was not permitted to defend herself in the media because of the U.K.’s lack of “freedom of speech” protections.
A week after the massacre, a statement titled “Scholars Warned of Potential Genocide in Gaza” was signed by nearly eight hundred scholars from across Europe and the U.S. It refers to Hamas terrorists as “fighters” and makes “no reference to the massacre at all.”
Halperin was subject to a double standard and was not permitted to defend herself in the media because of the U.K.’s lack of “freedom of speech” protections.
Hamas is on the list of “proscribed terrorist organizations in the U.K.” Its leader, Mousa Abu Marzook, engaged a U.K. law firm in April 2025 to fight the U.K. government’s designation. Hamas claims the movement poses no threat to the U.K., despite the increase in online radicalization and a heightened terror threat post-October 7. Eighteen university student bodies have joined “this legal bid to remove Hamas from the list of terrorist organizations.” Other universities are supporting this bid in separate campaigns.
Two of the signatories to the scholars’ statement regarding potential genocide in Gaza expressed support for the October 7 massacre and are affiliated with Al-Haq, an ostensible “humanitarian organization” that Israel designated a terrorist group. U.K. institutional links with terrorism-supporting universities in Gaza and the West Bank were established long before October 7. Five other signatories to the scholars’ statement are affiliated with Birzeit University in the West Bank. Funded by a Qatar charity, Birzeit is known for its links to terrorism. Not only did terrorists study there, but some university buildings and events are named for terrorists.
A professor who worked at Coventry after being employed by Birzeit posted his support for protests against Israel, accusing it of genocide. The university has a memorandum of understanding with the University of Applied Sciences in Gaza that was destroyed by the IDF. The pro-Palestinian movement launched a “right to education” campaign, accusing Israel of “ideocide” for destroying the Gaza university.
As part of the “right to education” campaign, U.K. activists also argue on behalf of the U.S.-based pro-Palestinian activist and alleged October 7 supporter Mahmoud Khalil. They claim that because Khalil was a scholar studying at Columbia University and was part of the academic community, he needs to be defended. Their defense of terrorism is met with silence. When hiring professors, Coventry “would always prioritize not only pro-Palestine, but actually professors that are openly support[ive of] terrorism.”
U.K. institutional links with terrorism-supporting universities in Gaza and the West Bank were established long before October 7.
In a meeting with U.K. members of Parliament, Halperin advised them regarding the three most important levels of counterterrorism. First, cut funding to universities “that allow glorification of terrorism and threats [to] students and staff.” Second, “revoke visas of radical students,” which the U.K. government has failed to do. And third, enforce the Freedom of Speech Act to safeguard against bullying and harassment. “Coventry University, in my case, failed me twice. First, because I’m an Israeli professor, but second because I’m also British.”
Problems in British society began many years ago. At that time, some asylum-seekers who posed a threat to their home countries came to their host countries and posed a terrorist threat there. Worse still, these purported refugees in the U.K. are funded by the government. “There is no understanding to the fact that this threat is not a threat on only, or merely on, the Israeli and Jewish society, but rather a threat on the British, European societies as a whole. Because if a student would decide to throw a bomb or to do something like what happened on October 7, it wouldn’t hurt only me or my community.”
