British counter-terrorism authorities are investigating allegations that Miko Peled, a speaker at the notorious November 29 Oxford Union event, may have broken the law by expressing support for Hamas, The Telegraph reported Saturday.
The remarks in question were made last week during a contentious debate at the storied debating society. One speaker reportedly described the events of Oct. 7, 2023, as “acts of heroism,” rejecting the label of terrorism.
Miko Peled, a prominent pro-Hamas activist, delivered the remarks while supporting the motion: “This house believes Israel is an apartheid state responsible for genocide.” His comments have since drawn intense scrutiny, prompting the police inquiry.
The complaints have been referred to specialist counter-terrorism officers for review. Under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000, expressing support for a proscribed organization is a criminal offense in Britain.
During the debate, Peled reportedly said about the October 7, 2023 atrocities: “What we saw on Oct 7 was not terrorism … these were acts of heroism of a people who have been oppressed.”
Jonathan Sacerdoti, the son of a Holocaust survivor and one of the debate’s opposing speakers, raised a point of order in response, asserting that he believed Peled’s comments amounted to a “criminal offense.”
Addressing the Oxford Union’s president, Ebrahim Osman Mowafy, Sacerdoti said: “I believe you should invite the police in. His depiction of the acts of Hamas on Oct. 7 is, under U.K. law — the Terrorism Act 2000 — illegal.”
Mowafy reportedly responded, saying: “I’m not legal enforcement.”
The Oxford Union has refused to upload the speech of Miko Peled in which he broke UK law by praising the acts of October 7th as “heroic” during the debate accusing Israel of genocide. Apparently there is already a probe from the UK counter terror police (good) but I have also… pic.twitter.com/p3mVlLSOQq
— Emily Schrader – אמילי שריידר امیلی شریدر (@emilykschrader) December 7, 2024
Born in Jerusalem in 1961, Miko Peled hails from a storied Zionist family deeply entwined with Israel’s history. His grandfather, Avraham Katznelson, was a signatory of Israel’s Declaration of Independence. His father, Mattityahu Peled, played a pivotal role in the nation’s military history, fighting in the 1948 War of Liberation and serving as a general during the Six-Day War of 1967.
But it was his father’s ideological transformation that would shape Miko Peled’s path. After conducting an investigation into an alleged Israeli war crime in 1967, Mattityahu Peled grew disillusioned when the Israeli cabinet dismissed his findings. He became a vocal critic of Israel’s military occupation of Judea, Samaria, Gaza, Sinai, and the Golan Heights, denouncing the country’s campaign to survive attacks by its three Arab neighbors––Egypt, Jordan, and Syria––as a “cynical campaign of territorial expansion.”
His stance earned him a complex reputation among PA Arabs, and activist Susan Abulhawa described him as “a man that many of us Palestinians could not figure out whether to love or hate,” while some prominent PA Arabs referred to him as “Abu Salam” – Father of Peace.
Miko Peled’s own advocacy reflects this complicated legacy. His outspoken criticism of Israeli policies made him both a controversial and influential figure in Middle Eastern political discourse. His brother, Yoav Peled, is a noted political scientist, adding another layer of intellectual engagement to a family defined by its deep and evolving relationship with Israel’s history.
In 2016, Peled sparked outrage after tweeting that “Jews have [a] reputation [for] being sleazy thieves,” prompting Princeton University and San Diego State University to cancel his scheduled appearances. His remarks drew widespread condemnation and intensified scrutiny of his public commentary.
A year later, Peled spoke at a fringe event during the British Labour Party’s annual conference in Brighton in September 2017. According to The Daily Mail, he defended the right to debate controversial issues, stating: “This is about free speech, the freedom to criticize and to discuss every issue, whether it’s the Holocaust: yes or no, Palestine, the liberation, the whole spectrum. There should be no limits on the discussion.”
Peled went further, arguing that certain viewpoints should be excluded from public forums, stating: “We don’t invite the Nazis and give them an hour to explain why they are right; we do not invite apartheid South Africa racists to explain why apartheid was good for the blacks; and in the same way, we do not invite Zionists.”
His comments prompted a backlash within the Labour Party. Deputy Leader Tom Watson announced that the party’s conference organizing committee would investigate how Peled was allowed to speak at the event, amid ongoing tensions over antisemitism allegations within the party at the time.
