Oxford Union President Arwa Elrayess Faces Resignation Calls Over Oct. 7 Hamas Messages

Oxford Union president Arwa Elrayess faced calls to step down after leaked WhatsApp messages described the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel as “proportional” and suggested Hamas would one day be “lauded as heroes.”

“Oxford Union President Urged to Step Down After Justifying Oct”

Algemeiner

The BBC said the messages were sent in a student group chat of more than 100 politics, philosophy and economics students at the University of Oxford, and it reported that a formal motion of no confidence was filed against Elrayess with requirements for signatures from 150 members by Saturday.

Algemeiner

In the same BBC account of the exchange, Elrayess told other students: “Any resistance group will inevitably be deemed a 'terrorist' organisation by the West until they achieve their liberation (by which time, they'll be lauded as heroes, as history has repeatedly proven).”

The BBC also reported that Elrayess later said: “Proportional does not mean 'right' by the way, just that [you] can't be shocked that it happened.”

Oxford Students Against Discrimination said it was “appalled” by the messages and called for Elrayess to resign, framing the controversy as occurring “at a time when Jewish students at Oxford have faced an unprecedented rise in harassment, intimidation, and fear.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism called the messages “absolutely sickening” and said any effort to rationalize the attacks should disqualify Elrayess from holding any position, while the BBC reported that a spokesperson for the Oxford Union said: "As this does not relate to the President's official role, we are unable to comment."

BBC

Elrayess defended the messages by telling The Telegraph they were “not written as a legal brief or a public statement” and that she did not endorse violence or condone breaches of international law.

In the BBC’s account of her response to criticism, Elrayess said she “refuses to narrow down the Palestinian movement” to the Oct. 7 attack and argued that a constructive conversation about proportionality requires considering “the entire history of the Palestinian struggle.”

The BBC tied the Oxford controversy to the wider Gaza war by noting that the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel killed about 1,200 people and involved 251 others taken hostage, which it said triggered the Gaza war.

“- i24NEWS - International - Europe - Oxford Union president faces resignation calls after hailing Hamas as 'future heroes' Oxford Union president faces resignation calls after hailing Hamas as 'future heroes' Arwa Elrayess, the first Palestinian to lead the prestigious debating society, described Hamas's October 7 attack as "proportional" in leaked messages from a student WhatsApp group Arwa Elrayess, president of the Oxford Union and the first Palestinian to hold the role in the society's 202-year history, is facing calls to resign”

i24NEWS

In the BBC’s summary of the conflict’s scale, it reported that Israel’s campaign “reduced much of the Palestinian territory to ruins” and left many of its 2.1 million residents displaced, and it added that as of May 2026 more than 70,000 Palestinians had been killed in Gaza according to its Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures the UN considers reliable.

Elrayess told the BBC that it was “categorically untrue to suggest that I have lauded a proscribed organisation in any way,” and she said she had been portrayed as “inherently dangerous because of the values I hold and the beliefs I am outspoken about.”

The BBC also reported that one former Oxford Union committee member, who wished to remain anonymous, said the WhatsApp messages “expose a sickening disregard for human life,” and that the Oxford Students Against Discrimination group described the comments as “a failure of basic humanity, and a betrayal of every Jewish student.”