London School of Economics resists Israel ambassador’s call to cancel event on Hamas book
Palestinian fighters attend a funeral in the war-devastated Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza on 7 February 2025
Middle East Eye reports on 11 March 2025:
A leading British university has resisted a campaign by pro-Israel groups and the Israeli ambassador to cancel the launch of a new book about Hamas.
The book, Understanding Hamas and Why That Matters, which is edited by Helena Cobban and Rami Khouri, was launched on Monday afternoon at the London School of Economics amid widespread outrage, with a pro-Israel protest held outside the university.
The Israeli ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, wrote to LSE vice-chancellor Professor Larry Kramer asking him to cancel the launch, organised through the university’s Middle East Centre, accusing it of platforming “Hamas propaganda”. She claimed that the launch could “serve to grow support for a brutal terror organisation among your students and beyond”.
But the university did not back down, with a spokesperson saying: “Free speech and freedom of expression underpins everything we do at LSE. Students, staff and visitors are strongly encouraged to discuss and debate the most pressing issues around the world.”
The book’s description says that it “provides much-needed insight into a widely misunderstood movement whose involvement in a just resolution of the Israel/Palestine conflict will be critical”.
“This book does not advocate for or against Hamas. Rather, in a series of rich and probing conversations with leading experts, it aims to deepen understanding of a movement that is a key player in the current crisis,” it continues. “It looks at, among other things, Hamas’s critical shift from social and religious activism to national political engagement; the delicate balance between Hamas’s political and military wings; and its transformation from early anti-Jewish tendencies to a stance that differentiates between Judaism and Zionism.”
‘Misrepresentation’ of Hamas
Contributors to the book include Jadaliyya co-editor Mouin Rabbani and academic Azzam Tamimi, author of Hamas: A History from Within.
The event, chaired by the Middle East Centre’s director Michael Mason, was addressed by Rabbani and co-editor Cobban, as well as Jeroen Gunning, a founder of the field of critical terrorism studies, and international relations lecturer Catherine Charrett.