Ministers have been urged to investigate a pro-Palestine student conference in London this weekend being run by a group with alleged ties to terror organisations.
The National Student Conference for Palestine is being held by the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) and supported by student groups from top London universities.
The PYM has been accused of having ties to the Popular Front For The Liberation Of Palestine (PFLP), a designated terror group in the EU, US and Canada and also sanctioned in the UK.
Parliamentarians and Jewish groups have said the conference risks legitimising violence against Jews and have urged the government and universities to investigate.
The National Student Conference taking place is being sold as a ‘space to strategise, organise, and build the collective power needed to confront Zionism’.
Organisers plan to help activists ‘fortify our tactics… and forge the unity necessary to end universities’ complicity.’
Pro-Palestine student groups from King’s College London (KCL), the London School of Economics (LSE), City St George’s, the University of Manchester,and SOAS have all promoted the conference on their social media pages.
Attention has fallen on the PYM’s previous alleged links with the PFLP and inflammatory comments and tactics.
In 2019, a French appeal court cited a 2015 report by France’s domestic intelligence agency (DGSI) that described PYM as being ‘affiliated with the PFLP’, a militant group which has carried out a string of bombings and plane hijackings targeting Israel.
A report by the Israeli Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism in July 2024 also alleged that the PYM has ‘close ties to the PFLP and its affiliates’.
Many of these alleged links stem from conferences and events hosted by the PYM which are alleged to have involved PFLP members.
In May 2024, the PYM co-organised a pro-Palestine conference in Detroit, Michigan, which reportedly shared video endorsements from PFLP founding member Salah Salah and PFLP member Wisam Rafeedie.
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PYM has also hosted a rally with Samidoun in 2022, which was sanctioned by Canada as a terrorist entity in 2024 and designated by the US as a ‘sham charity’ serving as a fundraising front for the PFLP, which Samidoun denied at the time.
At this rally, outside the Consulate General of Israel in Manhattan, protesters called for the liberation of Palestine ‘by any means necessary.’
The PYM has also led campaigns for the release of imprisoned PFLP militants, including Walid Daqqa and Khalida Jarrar.
The PYM has also been active in the UK. This year, it held a four-day ‘summer school’ in the Peak District, at which young people chanted: ‘We will have victory over Zionism,’ according to The Telegraph.
PYM also created a ‘Siege on Labour’ toolkit detailing tactics for ‘targeting’ the offices of their local MPs and their regional Labour Party headquarters, The Times reported.
The ‘toolkit’ for the national day of action included tactics on staging sit-ins, pickets and rallies, and advice on how to “mobilise widely”.
Jeanine Hourani, a spokesman for the group’s branch in Britain, has reportedly previously described the taking of hostages by Hamas on Oct 7 as ‘legitimate’ and ‘effective’.
She said: ‘This moment has reaffirmed the use of prisoner exchanges as a legitimate and effective tactic within national liberation and anti-colonial struggles.’
Former Home Secretary Priti Patel MP called for the government to take action and said the conference was an opportunity ‘for people to spread hatred and antisemitism and promote terrorist views.’
She added: ‘The British public and members of the Jewish community will be alarmed by this and many will feel unsafe.
Labour MP Luke Akehurst said the alleged links between terror groups and student activists here in the UK must be taken seriously.
He told Metro: ‘Too often, our campuses have become breeding grounds for extremism, undermining our national security. I urge the Government to investigate these links and take appropriate action to prevent young people from being recruited into movements which support political extremism and violence.’
Jewish groups have also joined calls for the government to intervene before the conference takes place.
The Jewish Leadership Council said it ‘risks legitimising violence against Jews’.
They added: ‘At a time of grave violence and threats against Jewish communities, student groups should not be aligning themselves with PYM. Universities and Student Unions must take action against affiliated groups that attend this conference.’
The Campaign Against Antisemitism called on universities to do more to stop their students ‘Universities should pay close heed to how their students may be ‘flirting with extremism.’
UK Lawyers for Israel have ‘documented extensive evidence of PYM’s links with organisations associated with terrorism’, including allegedly the PFLP.
They have sent their report about the PYM – seen by Metro – to universities whose student groups are seemingly attending.
They added: ‘Given PYM’s track record, there are serious grounds for concern that this conference will expose students to extremist propaganda.’
City Friends of Palestine at City St George’s, Action 4 Palestine at Manchester, Students for Justice in Palestine at KCL, LSE and SOAS, and all shared posts about sending a delegation to the conference.
City St George’s University has since told Metro that City Friends of Palestine has confirmed it is not attending the conference and was not involved in organising it.
Metro understands the PYM describes itself as a ‘completely independent organisation’ with ‘no affiliation to any proscribed organisation or political faction’.
PYM is said to deny allegations they are linked to terror groups and are understood to have said they are based on innuendo and false assumptions.
What have the universities said?
LSE Spokesperson: ‘Universities are required by law to protect free speech and LSE has clear policies in place to protect individual rights to freedom of expression within the law. Palestinian Youth Movement are not a proscribed group and therefore promoting or attending their event is not unlawful or a breach of LSE rules.’
King’s College London Students’ Union said: ‘KCLSU is not involved in organising, funding or endorsing this conference. KCL Stands for Justice is not a KCLSU student group. Where concerns are raised about any of our student groups, we deal with them under our policies and the law, while respecting students’ lawful freedom of expression.’
A spokesperson for the University of Manchester Students’ Union said their Board of Trustees had reviewed the dossier from UKLFI and ‘concluded that much of the detail concerned activities of other organisations and individuals, or activity by the Palestinian Youth Movement outside the United Kingdom.’
Its statement added: ‘As a union we condemn terrorism without reservation and antisemitism has no place in our students’ union. The safety, wellbeing and sense of belonging of our Jewish students matter to us as much as those of any other student.
‘The Palestinian Youth Movement is not proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000 and is not designated on the UK Sanctions List, so it remains a lawful organisation.
‘Attending a conference organised by a lawful organisation is lawful activity. Neither the Union nor the University is sending a delegation to the conference; a group of University of Manchester students have simply chosen to attend.
‘Like all of our societies, Action 4 Palestine is run by its student members, who decide its activities and manage its own social media accounts. The Union does not pre-approve society social media posts, and the views a society expresses are its own.’
A SOAS spokesperson said they had received UKLFI’s report and were ‘considering its findings in accordance with our legal and regulatory obligations and established processes.’
A government spokesperson said: ‘The right to express and discuss lawful political views is the cornerstone of our democracy. However, there is no place for unlawful extremist hatred and abuse.
‘Universities should take their Prevent duties seriously and ensure robust steps are in place to stop unlawful extremist activity and keep students safe.’
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