LONDON (Dispatches) – An array of student organizations at Cambridge University have signed a letter condemning the decision by the Cambridge Union to host senior Likud politician Dan Meridor, saying he has committed human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Meridor held multiple positions within the occupying regime headed by Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party. Most recently he served as the regime’s Minister of Intelligence, a post that gave him power over spy services active in the occupied West Bank.
“Meridor, a long-time member of the right-wing populist Likud party, has a long history of breaching international law and committing human rights abuses,” the letter said.
From 2009 to 2013 he was Deputy Prime Minister. His time in office coincided with a Zionist assault on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in 2010. Ten Turkish citizens were killed when Zionist troops boarded the Mavi Marmara vessel as it attempted to break the ongoing siege of the Gaza Strip.
Meridor’s tenure as deputy prime minister also came as the regime conducted an eight-day bombardment of the Gaza Strip in 2012 which killed more than 100 Palestinian civilians.
“It is doubtful the Union would invite Meridor if the organizers of this event or their families suffered under IDF bombing campaigns or torture in detention. Arab life, for most Western states, has no value,” the authors stated.
The letter has so far received the endorsement of 32 student groups, including the Cambridge University Palestine Solidarity Society, the Cambridge Middle East North Africa Society and Cambridge University Islamic Society.
“We have no fear of listening to our political opponents. What we will not tolerate are invitations to a succession of war criminals and torturers,” the letter added.
At the beginning of November, the president of the National Union of Students was removed from office following an investigation into allegations of anti-Semitism brought by the Union of Jewish Students.
Shaima Dallali said she had received Islamophobic and racist abuse, including death threats, since the allegations came to light.