I Was Suspended For Calling a Keffiyeh a Tea Towel. Here is What It Revealed About Free Speech, Islamism and British Universities

As a student entering my final year of studies at Royal Holloway University, I see the same things across the Surrey-based campus every day. The University, nestled next to some of the wealthiest parts of Britain, like many others, has become a welcoming home to Islamist extremist ideologies.(1)

You do not need to walk far before you see a ‘Boycott Israeli Apartheid’ Palestine flag sticker or text along the lines of ‘Globalise the Intifada’. 

Supporters of the Palestinian cause refer to intifada as ‘resistance’, as ‘uprising’, but having spoken to people who lived through the Second Intifada, it realistically translates to suicide bombs and civilian deaths, as opposed to ‘resistance’. But if you question this on campus, it regularly invites accusations of Islamophobia or even ‘anti-Palestinianism’. As a student focused on diplomacy across the Middle East, along with combatting extremism and promoting free speech, I truly believe that we must distinguish between legitimate political debate and clear support for terrorist organisations. 

From Solidarity to Extremism: ‘Friends of Palestine’ & Islamic Societies:

The University’s ‘Friends of Palestine’ society prides itself on promoting Palestinian culture (2), but has clearly overstepped the mark and postured towards Islamist extremism. In 2025, it supported efforts to de-proscribe Hamas(3), the Islamist movement designated as a terrorist group by the UK Government in 2001, and then fully in 2021 - the jihadists who pride themselves on carrying out the most bloody massacre of Jews since the holocaust.(4)

This adds to students casually telling me that they support Hamas, that it’s not a terrorist group, and that ‘if someone kept poking you, you would eventually bite back’. 

More recently, I discovered that this same group, which prides itself on Palestinian identity, had donated £1,820 (5) to Zayir Charity Association/ Zayer UK - an unregistered group in the UK that has documented links to Hezbollah (6a)(6b)(6c). Yet another proscribed Islamist terrorist organisation. Student donations should not be financing groups that are committed to violence against jews and others; it is not activism, instead it raises alarm bells. 

The patterns of Islamism go further; they extend to the Islamic Society at Royal Holloway. The society, like many others, affiliates with the Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS), which is known for its historic ties to the Muslim Brotherhood (7a)(7b)(7c)(7d) and Jama’at-i Islami (8a) (8b). Posters and signposts are dotted around campus with small text ‘Discover Islam’. While Pro-Palestine political material floods student spaces like our library. The Muslim Brotherhood has been designated a terrorist group by several Arab countries, such as the UAE and Egypt. The terror group is renowned for its influence in Western institutions - with its ideology starting with cultural accommodations, then escalating to the unimaginable. 

The Cost of Dissent: Free Speech, Symbols and Double Standards

Every day on campus is a reminder of these exact tensions. 

Nearly every meat option on campus is now halal only - a policy driven by demographic change. Critics are quickly labelled Islamophobic if we oppose to eating this religiously slaughtered food. The keffiyeh, worn by many students on campus, is now seen as a symbol of Palestinian solidarity, despite it being associated with Yasser Arafat, Palestinian Jihadi terrorists, and civilians being slaughtered on October 7th 2023. Referring to the kefifyeh critically, even as a ‘tea-towel’, led me to a huge free speech battle (9a), which included being suspended from the University for 9 weeks and being reported to the Police (9b). My friends, a couple Muslim, and one Iraqi, confirmed to me that the Keffiyeh hold no religious significance in either of the holy texts - the Quran or Hadith. Yet criticising its use in support of so-called ‘resistance’- usually translating to violence, murder, rape, and hostage-taking- triggers huge backlash. Oh, and threats from fellow students. This is a dangerous slippery slope for Free Speech in Britain.

Free speech should provide absolute protection for criticisms of ideologies, comments that may even be seen as ‘offensive’, rather than shielding calls for jihad (10) or antisemitism (11). 

The Warning Signs Were Already There

While Royal Holloway is not necessarily unique in its ignorance towards Islamism, its history is rather telling. Just 11 years ago, a fresher student, Zubair Nur, left campus to join ISIS in Syria (12a) (12b). It was reported that Zubair had interactions with the Royal Holloway Islamic Society, and that he started to wear traditional muslim clothing, along with praising extremist leaders online. Along with Zubair, Royal Holloway is also home to a series of alumni who have gone on to work for dictatorships and terrorist regimes. 

In 2001, Saied Reza Ameli finished studying for a PhD in Sociology of Communications, with his doctoral research focused on “The Impact of Globalisation on British Muslim Identity” (13). He cofounded the Islamic Human Rights Commission (14), which is responsible for the deadly crackdown on hijab laws, and was heavily involved in Iran’s Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, with IRGC connections. 

Along with Saied, there is also Abbas Ahmad Akhoundi, a former Minister in Iran. And Moussa Ibrahim, the spokesman and international mouthpiece for Libyan dictator Gaddafi. Under Gaddafi, Libya was branded a state sponsor of terrorism by the US and the United Nations. 

This is deeply unsettling when the Government of Iran is a leading state sponsor of terror, funding its proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah, while slaughtering its own people for protesting. Lashing women for not wearing the hijab correctly, all while plotting terrorist attacks on British soil. Just last year, MI5 marvellously foiled more than 20 Iranian-backed terrorist attacks here in Britain (15). The UAE is reducing the number of students they send to the UK over fears of radicalisation by Islamist extremist ideology on our campuses (16). 

This same message was echoed by Emirati expert Amjad Taha, whom I briefly met at the ARC Conference last month. He told us that when we send our students to UK Universities, they ‘come back radicalised’, and that when the UAE sends its children to become lawyers and doctors, they return: “they want to be a lawyer to Sinwar and a doctor not to the Jewish people”. 

This is not just a Royal Holloway issue; it is a serious national issue. What was once referred to as ‘Great Britain’ is now home to places of education that are soiled with encampments, students chanting genocidal slurs towards the existence of the world’s only Jewish state, medieval blood libels repeated by tutors (17), and open tolerance of Hamas and Hezbollah support. All while anti-zionism is used as a guise for antisemitism. Jewish hatred. 

Our universities are the first victims, but if we look at wider societal issues, we see radical preachers in Mosques, instructing how to stone women (18), a huge identity crisis amongst Brits, and institutions being funded by hostile states like Qatar (19). Our Universities are built on the foundation of promoting critical thinking and transmitting Western, British values. Instead, we appear to be prioritising “diversity, equality, and inclusion” over our security and integration. 

The Future of Britain's Campuses

I’m a student, heading into my third year of undergraduate studies; I, for one, don’t claim to have all the answers. But there are easy steps that must be taken before the total erosion of British culture, identity, and security becomes inevitable. 

Every UK University must enforce the Prevent Duty (20) rigorously. While free speech is fundamental to British society, it does not extend to platforming speakers who support proscribed terrorist organisations. Free speech must be separated from incitement to violence. Extremist speakers who call the October 7th Massacre ‘resistance’ and ‘a victory’ should be nowhere near our young people. 

The Government must regulate foreign-linked student societies and moderate all donations. Every donation should be scrutinised to easily identify ties to a terrorist organisation like Hamas or Hezbollah. If concerns are raised, a serious investigation should be launched immediately, with support from Counter-terror police. 

Free Speech. While incitement to violence and support for terrorist organisations, of any kind, is not welcome on British soil, free speech remains a core foundation. Students need to stop this culture of self-censorship; being careful to not be controversial is not healthy. We need free speech for innovation, fresh ideas, new perspectives and for academic purposes. Students and staff alike should be debating, which means being able to speak about criticisms of Islamism without being smeared or reported. 

Finally, British values are a priority. Our Universities should be promoting liberal, secular qualities, not importing sharia-compliant ideologies that are incompatible with our Western way of life. We should follow in the direction of Katharine Birbalsingh, dubbed Britain’s strictest headmistress, who proudly states that only one flag flies above that school, and it's the Union Jack, instilling national pride into their pupils. I had the pleasure of meeting Katharine, and she should be a role model to all Vice-Chancellor’s/Principals. 

We must not forget that it's our Universities that shape the next generation of diplomats, civil servants, lawmakers, journalists, and educators. By normalising sympathies for terrorist groups, combined with our cultural erosion and the smear branding that is ‘Islamophobia’, we risk a parallel society with much weaker integration. 

None of this is about different political opinions. Supporting peace in the Middle East is fundamentally different from supporting the very groups that execute gays, stone women, and dream of a caliphate. 

Britain’s Universities were founded with the core idea of advancing civilisation, not undermining it. And so, as someone passionate about the Middle East, diplomacy, and counter-extremism, I will and must keep speaking out. Fellow students, academics, and experts should be demanding better. Our institutions are now tasked with choosing free, open debate or falling victim to ideological colonisation.