Last term, the University of Birmingham offered two free screenings of Watermelon Pictures’ short film, The Encampments. The documentary chronicles the 2024 Gaza Solidarity Encampments and student protests at Columbia University, where Jewish students were accosted and openly targeted. My Student Guild advertised the event as an ‘urgent’ and ‘intimate’ viewing which, to me and my Jewish peers, felt like a public endorsement of hate.

The Encampments perfectly encapsulates the radicalisation of anti-Israel hatred across UK universities. Despising Israel no longer represents some extreme political leaning; it has become the unofficial curriculum and institutional norm. Here at Birmingham, it is quite normal to publicly declare that Zionist students are unwelcome. It is perfectly acceptable for Jewish students to be treated as second-class.

My university twice provided the lecture theatre for the showing, transforming anti-Israel hatred into a cinematic experience. What’s next: The Intifada in 3D?  Intrigued, I attended the screening in the hope of seeking perspective outside of my own.

The film follows the testimony of Ivy League students Sueda Polat and Mahmoud Khalil. Khalil has been accused of distributing pro-Hamas leaflets during these same 2024 encampments. Watching the screening felt inextricably linked to sympathising with Hamas, something Birmingham’s Palestine Liberation Society appeared to tolerate, if not........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)