Itai Galmudy, co-founder of Stop the Hate UK, spoke to Arutz Sheva-Israel National News, following the launch of the book "Understanding Hamas And Why That Matters" at the London School of Economics and the protests by the Jewish community that followed.

Galmudy says that, “Ten days ago we received the news that the London School of Economics (LSE), one of the most prestigious academic centers in the United Kingdom, if not in the world, some would say with a history of 130 years, decided to hold an event launching the book”

“We could not believe that an event like this will be held in an academic center, in a capital of a western city, glorifying Hamas,” claims Galmudy. “This is against the law in the UK. Hamas in its entirety is a proscribed terror organization and the law does not allow glorifying terror acts of any proscribed organization. That's why we believe that this event was illegal and shouldn't have taken place.”

To the claim that it is important for one to learn about their enemy, Galmudy responds that, “Learning about your enemy is a job for military research centers, maybe think tanks. You don't understand the enemy by glorifying acts of terror and telling students and young minds that they’ve got it all wrong. That what they actually saw on the 7th of October by Hamas, when they broadcast the massacre worldwide, we all got it wrong, but those academics, so-called scholars, they are going to teach us Israelis and Jews about Hamas.”

“This is a situation that, on the one hand, is condescending and we won't accept it and, on the other, we already know Hamas very, very well. We couldn't take this kind of approach. The community here came together. More than 50,000 letters were sent to the LSE and the education minister. Different bodies in the community came together to try and stop this event,” he says.

“Even Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely wrote to LSE asking them to cancel this event. Her request was ignored and that's why we decided to take to the streets and make sure whoever comes to this vile event, knows that there is another side. I can tell you that there was a large presence of Jews inside the stadium as well,” describes Galmudy.

“There was an impressive organization of students and lecturers from LSE who went inside to actually hear about what the book is. I have read some extracts from the book and heard their sessions on YouTube and it is a vile book. But we went in, because we are open-minded and we wanted to see what it was all about.”

He explains that “the audience asked questions that were designed to make sure that nobody is glorifying a terrorist organization and if they were, this was recorded and there will be charges and complaints brought against those speakers.”

As all this is part of a widespread phenomena, Galmudy says that “unfortunately ever since October 7th there has been a massive rise in antisemitism and antisemitic incidents in the UK, in general, so it's no surprise to us that it happens on campuses. Jewish students have reported that they can't wear their kippah and they can't wear their Star of David. They are afraid, they are feeling uncomfortable, they are being heckled and are being chased and excommunicated. This is a situation that we will not accept, but this is the reality ever since October 7th and it seems like academic centers in this country have chosen to make Jewish students’ lives all the more complicated, instead of showing support and solidarity to the Jewish students, and protecting them.”

“Most academic centers here have chosen the completely opposite way of dealing with this and citing freedom of speech and academic freedoms. It's not enough, it's not enough for the lack of action that we see from the academic centers here in the UK. Hiding behind freedom of speech is not good enough,” he concludes.