OXFORD, UK — International relations came to the front door of Oxford University’s Chabad Society as several pro-Palestinian demonstrators launched a loud protest on the busy thoroughfare of George Street Friday night.
Waving flags, handing out leaflets and raising their voices at passersby, the group objected to the appearance of veteran Israeli diplomat Yehuda Avner at the inaugural Shabbaton of campus-based Chabad-Lubavitch centers in the United Kingdom.
UK Students Celebrate Historic Countrywide Shabbat Gathering
OXFORD, UK — International relations came to the front door of Oxford University’s Chabad Society as several pro-Palestinian demonstrators launched a loud protest on the busy thoroughfare of George Street Friday night.
Waving flags, handing out leaflets and raising their voices at passersby, the group objected to the appearance of veteran Israeli diplomat Yehuda Avner at the inaugural Shabbaton of campus-based Chabad-Lubavitch centers in the United Kingdom.
According to Rabbi Eli Brackman, director of the Oxford University center and chairman of Chabad on Campus UK, an enterprising student went downstairs in the middle of prayer services to point out to the protestors that Avner’s appearance was far from political. The British-born ambassador, who maintained a close relationship with the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, during his diplomatic stints in New York for several Israeli prime ministers, was instead invited to share his recollections of the Rebbe and the advice he gave during some of Israel’s most-troubled years.
After a representative from the protestors came upstairs to see Jewish community members and some 120 students from more than 10 campuses across the UK participating in a Shabbat evening prayer service, she returned to the street outside to calm the protests down.
For the rest of the evening, “they were quiet,” said Brackman, who learned of the planned protest shortly before Shabbat through a forwarded e-mail and arranged for extra security. “Students have protested against Israel before on campus, but we’ve never had a protest directly outside.”
All in all, said participants, the commotion was just a slight wrinkle in an otherwise enjoyable conference.
“It was the best lecture I’ve heard in Oxford this year,” commented Michael Stark of Hertford College.
