LONODN (Dispatches) - A Muslim woman who received death threats after appearing on a popular British quiz show has won “substantial damages” and received a public apology from a Conservative politician who wrongly accused her of anti-Semitism, her lawyers said on Wednesday.
Melika Gorgianeh, a doctoral astrophysics student at Christ Church, Oxford University, appeared on University Challenge, a BBC show, in an episode that was aired on November 20.
It was filmed months earlier in March.
The team’s mascot was a stuffed toy, a blue octopus, and Gorgianeh was wearing a multicolored jacket that was navy blue, orange, pink and green.
Jacqueline Foster, who holds the title of baroness as she’s a member of the House of Lords, took to X after the show was broadcast to claim Gorgianeh was wearing the colors of the Palestinian flag and was responsible for the mascot.
Neither observation was true. The colors of the Palestine flag are black, white, green and red. The mascot belonged to the team of four.
Foster described the octopus as one of the most “disgusting anti-Semitic symbols” and called for Gorgianeh to be “expelled” by her university and “arrested” by the police.
She also tagged top politicians, including Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, as well as the national communications regulator Ofcom, the BBC and the University of Oxford.
The story was picked up by many media outlets and seized upon on social media.
“Is This Cute Lil’ Guy an Antisemitic Hate Symbol?” asked Rolling Stone magazine in a headline, of the octopus.
To date, more than 30,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in the Gaza Strip. Israel began its military campaign after Hamas operated ‘the ‘al-Aqsa Storm’ in southern occupied Palestine on October 7.