Oxford Union president faces resignation calls after hailing Hamas as 'future heroes'

Arwa Elrayess, president of the Oxford Union and the first Palestinian to hold the role in the society's 202-year history, is facing calls to resign. This after leaked messages showed her describing Hamas's October 7 attack as "proportional" and suggesting the terrorist group would one day "be lauded as heroes."

Elrayess made the remarks in a private WhatsApp group of around 100 incoming students set to study Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford, in September 2025. The messages were first reported by The Telegraph on Wednesday.

In the messages, Elrayess argued that "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," citing the IRA and the Palestine Liberation Organization as examples. When challenged by a fellow student, she replied: "I am actually. In fact, some would argue it's less than proportional. Have you seen what Israel has put Palestinians through for decades?"

Oxford Students Against Discrimination said it was "appalled" by the messages, which it said came "at a time when Jewish students at Oxford have faced an unprecedented rise in harassment, intimidation, and fear," and called on Elrayess to resign. The Campaign Against Antisemitism said the messages were "absolutely sickening" and called on Oxford University to investigate, saying any effort to rationalize the attacks should disqualify Elrayess from holding any position.

Elrayess told The Telegraph the messages were "not written as a legal brief or a public statement" and that she did not endorse violence or condone breaches of international law. "This was a theoretical description of the structural context of the conflict," she said. Oxford University said it does not comment on individual students.