LONDON (Dispatches) – The Zionist regime’s ambassador to the UK was evacuated from the London School of Economics (LSE) on Tuesday, as pro-Palestine students voiced their anger at her appearance.
Footage on Twitter showed Tzipi Hotovely being bundled into her car by security guards as students chanted: “Shame on you.”
According to media, the university had invited Hotovely to participate in a debate.
Hotovely is a hardline supporter of the Zionist regime’s illegal settlements and has described herself as “a right-winger”. She has opposed interfaith marriages in the occupied territories and is a staunch opponent of a Palestinian state.
The LSE Student Union’s Palestine Society said that Hotovely’s appearance violated the university’s external speakers policy because she supports settlements and has called the Palestinian-Zionist conflict a religious one, among other reasons. The society also described her as “a racist”.
Hotovely’s appointment as ambassador to the UK last year caused controversy - with almost 2,000 British Jews signing a petition organized by Na’amod calling on the UK government to reject the appointment.
“Hotovely has an appalling record of racist and inflammatory behavior from throughout her political career,” the petition read.
“As British Jews we are clear: Tzipi Hotovely’s values and politics have no place in the UK.
“It is crucial that the UK government sends a message that her views are unacceptable, and rejects her nomination as ambassador.”
In December 2020, Hotovely appeared at an online event hosted by the Board of Deputies (BoD), the UK’s main Jewish community organization, where she described the expulsion of 700,000 Palestinians in the 1948 Arab-Zionist war - known as the Nakba (“catastrophe”) in Arabic - as a “very popular Arab lie”.
In 2019, following the release of a political manifesto by the BoD, in which they expressed support for a Palestinian state, Hotovely criticized the group, saying “an organization that supports the establishment of a Palestinian state is clearly working against Israeli interests”.