Following a ban on entry to the United Kingdom imposed on anti-Israel commentators Cenk Uygur and Hasan Piker, the two anti-Israel pundits will attend an Oxford Union debate via livestream.

The pair had initially traveled to Britain for the purpose of attending the debate live, but were denied entry due to Piker’s outspoken antisemitism and concerns that Uygur, who has used antisemitic tropes in the past, would foment antisemitism.

In a video statement complaining about the ban, Uygur invoked the antisemitic tropes he has been accused of promoting.

After Oct. 7, Hasan outright dismissed allegations of sexual violence by Hamas, calling them “rape fantasies” and “rape hallucinations.”

“It doesn’t matter if rapes happened on Oct. 7,” he said in a May 22, 2024, livestream. “It doesn’t change the dynamic for me.” He also said on Twitch that “in a totally just world, regardless of your background, any kind of f—— Zionist tendency should be treated in the same way as being a f—— rabid neo-Nazi … You shouldn’t even let someone be the f—— local dog catcher … if they have exhibited any sort of positive feelings about the state of Israel.”

He has called Orthodox Jews “inbred,” and in a grammatically challenged X post last May, wrote: “there’s no comparison between israel & hamas, one is a militant resistance comprised of orphaned soldiers born into a 77 year occupation, the other is a ethnoreligious supremacist apartheid state w nukes doing a genocide backed by the usa!”

The livestream debate is scheduled for Saturday, June 6.

“This event will not be cancelled,” said Arwa Elrayess, the president of the Oxford Union and the first person of Palestinian descent to hold the position. “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,” she added. “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.”

Elrayess has herself drawn fire and is now facing calls to resign for comments in a student WhatsApp group in which she defended Hamas’ actions on Oct. 7.

“I think the severity of resistance is often proportional to the severity of oppression,” she posted to the student group.

When challenged by a student, she responded by saying, “Some would argue it’s less than proportional. Have you seen what Israel has put Palestinians through for decades???”

She added that Hamas “are going to be heroes” and that “We’ll see how things unfold as time passes.”

After facing fierce backlash for those posts, she has sought to contextualize her comments, which only served to heighten the criticism of her position among Jewish advocates who said there is no context which could make those comments appropriate.

“Any effort to excuse or explain it away should disqualify someone not only from being the President of the Oxford Union — one of the most prestigious positions at one of the UK’s most elite institutions — but also should render them unfit from holding any position at all,” the Campaign Against Antisemitism said in a statement.

“The University of Oxford must take action to protect its students from extremists and the police should investigate some of these comments, which we are raising with our lawyers.”

Another venue that was supposed to host the anti-Israel commentators, SXSW London, canceled their appearance.