An Israeli professor at City St George’s, University of London, says he was threatened with beheading by a pro-Palestinian protester who disrupted his lecture this week.
Professor Michael Ben-Gad, an economics lecturer who served in the Israel Defense Forces from 1982 to 1985, told Sky News that masked activists burst into his classroom, calling him a “war criminal” and “Nazi.”
“They refused to leave. They were masked. One of them made a threat about having my head chopped off,” he said.
The demonstrators, identifying as members of City Action for Palestine, accused Ben-Gad of being part of the “genocide in Gaza” and chanted slogans including “Shame, this lecturer served in the IOF [Israel Occupation Forces]” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
The latter phrase is widely condemned as antisemitic and calling for Israel’s destruction.
Protesters said the university should not employ someone who had served in the Israeli military, especially during the 1982 First Lebanon War.
Masked students wearing keffiyehs threatened to behead an Israeli professor during his lecture at City University of London.
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) October 23, 2025
Professor Michael Ben-Gad said he has repeatedly faced harassment from Free Palestine students at the university but declared, “No one is going to… pic.twitter.com/wxXkTCYIws
Ben-Gad, who has taught at the university since 2008 and previously chaired his department, said he would not be intimidated. “These modern Brownshirts are not going to send me into hiding. I’m an unapologetic Israeli patriot, and no one is going to intimidate me,” he said.
He added that living in Britain is a privilege but “these people hate Britain’s civility, freedom and tolerance as much as they hate Israel and Jews.”
