Israel lobby loses it over the term ‘ancient Palestine’

Prominent lobby group UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) has been pushing hard to stifle criticism of the Zionist settler-colonial state’s crimes. And this has included trying to get the Open University (OU) to erase the term “ancient Palestine” for potentially triggering supporters of Israel. But academics have been fighting back.

Open University management flip-flops over Israel lobby campaign

The OU quickly folded under pressure from UKLFI. The university’s Palestine Solidarity Group exposed via a Freedom of Information (FOI) request that Adrienne Scullion, head of the Arts and Social Science faculty, had promised the lobby group:

We will not use the term ‘ancient Palestine’ in any future course materials, and we will explain and contextualise its use in existing materials for current learners

Following reports and UKLFI boasting, however, hundreds of academics signed an open letter challenging the OU’s pledge. And the controversy attracted greater public scrutiny of the institution:

Censorship

As Novara Media reported, this seems to have had an impact. A spokesperson for the OU told the outlet that academics can use their professional judgement and:

are free to use the term ‘ancient Palestine’ where scholarly appropriate in teaching and learning materials.

Novara said Scullion’s “contextual note”, according to the OU, only referred to “one current module within Arts and Social Sciences”. This wouldn’t explain the “broad wording” of the pledge to UKLFI, though. For one staff member, there’s a “clear contradiction” with the OU’s new claims, which:

do not constitute a reasonable interpretation of the letter from 18 December

Indeed, according to legal experts, the OU’s apparent commitments to UKLFI could represent a breach of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 (HEFSA). This binds universities to prevent “undue pressures” on staff and students that could threaten academic freedom and freedom of speech.

UK institutions and pro-Israel groups have been systematically targeting supporters of Palestine with different types of repression, with a particular focus on “students, academics and teachers”. The new Index of Repression outlines almost a thousand such cases between 2019 and 2025. And UKLFI has played a prominent role:

Defend academic freedom

The OU branch of the University and College Union (UCU) has insisted that the institution’s actions have made it:

complicit in a politically motivated attempt to erase Palestine from history.

It has also argued that it sets a precedent for more future attacks on academic freedom.

It wants the OU to launch an independent inquiry into what happened, and for the university to:

retract all commitments made to UKLFI.

This is not the first time UKLFI has tried to shut down solidarity with Palestine. And it won’t be the last. But if enough people raise their voices in defence of academic freedom, we can at the very least make the group’s mission a hell of a lot harder.

Featured image via the Canary