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Britain

Barred from UK, Cenk Uygur and Hasan Piker to address Oxford Union remotely

2026-06-05

Probably using Israeli tech to accomplish it, but let’s not think about that.

[IsraelTimes] Progressive US political commentator Cenk Uygur and leftist streamer Hasan Piker

…his nephew…

will address the Oxford Union on Saturday by livestream, after the UK banned them from entering the country.

The UK government did not explain its decision to ban the two commentators, except to say that “their presence in the UK may not be conducive to the public good.”

Arwa Elrayess, president of the Oxford Union, says: “This event will not be cancelled. The Union will ensure this discussion takes place. Free speech does not require a visa.”

“The Oxford Union was founded on one principle: that ideas are challenged through debate, not silenced by decree. We have never turned a speaker away because of their political beliefs, nor have we sought a permission slip from the state. We will not start now,” she says.

Uygur, host of “The Young Turks” news show on YouTube, frequently accuses Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip and commandeering US policy. The show — which has come to place Israel at the center of much of its coverage since 2023 — regularly shares debunked claims about Israeli attacks, and its hosts have amplified conspiracy theories linking the Jewish state to events including 9/11.

Piker, a streamer who is also Uygur’s nephew, is a self-identified socialist who has endorsed terror groups and regularly implies support for political violence. He has described Hamas as “a thousand times better than Israel.”

Elrayess, for her part, has also come under scrutiny for leaked messages in which she said of Hamas, “Any resistance group will inevitably be deemed a ‘terrorist’ organization by the West until they achieve their liberation (by which time, they’ll be lauded as heroes, as history has repeatedly proven).”

The Oxford student, a Palestinian who spent part of her childhood in Gaza and has lost family members in the recent war, has rejected calls to step down in the wake of the leaks.

She’s noted that the messages were sent in private, and that, in her role at the Oxford Union, she has actively facilitated the speech of people she disagrees with, such as anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson and a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces.

Posted by:trailing wife

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