The UK has revoked the visa of a Palestinian student after she took part in a pro-Palestinian protest at her university.
Dana Abuqamar told Al Jazeera the Interior Ministry withdrew her visa, portraying her as a threat to “national security”, following remarks she made at this year’s protest last.
“During this genocide, the UK Home Office decided to revoke my student visa following public statements supporting the right of Palestinians under international law to resist violence. oppression and break the siege illegally imposed on Gaza for over 16 years,” Abuqamar said. who runs the Friends of Palestine Society at the University of Manchester.
“Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right, but it does not seem to apply to ethnic minorities, especially Muslims and Palestinians like me. »
Last year, the 19-year-old law student revealed she had lost 15 family members during Israel’s war on Gaza.
Abuqamar, who is in his final year of studies, spoke of a feeling of “pride” at a pro-Palestinian event last year, following the Hamas attacks in Israel on October 7.
“We are really, really happy with what happened,” she said.
However, she later told the BBC that her comments had been misinterpreted and that the deaths of “innocent civilians should never be tolerated”.
Hamas, the group that governs Gaza, launched an unprecedented incursion into southern Israel on October 7. During this attack, 1,390 people were killed and hundreds were captured. This sharply escalated the historic Israeli-Palestinian conflict, triggering Israel’s latest and deadliest war against Gaza.
To date, around 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip, much of which has been reduced to rubble.
A spokesperson for the Interior Ministry told Al Jazeera in a statement that it does not comment on individual cases.
However, they added that the residence permit could be revoked in “cases where people have engaged in unacceptable or extremist behavior, such as activities inciting hatred, which could lead to inter-community violence, or when the person is associated or has been associated with persons involved in terrorism.”
In recent weeks, activists at British universities have joined the global student movement calling for an end to the war from their campuses.
But the encampments, where calls center on universities divesting from companies that aid Israel’s war efforts, are drawing criticism from officials and some Jewish groups over allegations of anti-Semitic abuse during the protests. .
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Thursday urged university leaders to adopt a zero-tolerance approach to discrimination and announced 500,000 pounds ($626,000) in funding for the university’s Jewish chaplaincy service to provide social services to Jewish students.
“Universities must be places of rigorous debate but also bastions of tolerance and respect for every member of their community,” Sunak said.
“A vocal minority on our campuses disrupts the lives and studies of their fellow students and, in some cases, spreads anti-Semitic harassment and abuse. This must stop.
Britain has not witnessed scenes of campus violence comparable to those in the United States, including heavy police crackdowns and clashes between protesters and counter-protesters.
British students say their rallies are peaceful and are joined by many Jewish students and academics.
Earlier this week, the Jews for Justice in Palestine group at the University of Cambridge and the Jewish Society at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London pledged their support for the pro-Palestinian protests.
