Uncensored and in full: my Oxford Union Islam debate speech

I was invited by the Oxford Union to debate whether the West should be suspicious of Islam, back in June 2026. I was told the official video of the speech would be published online shortly afterwards, as is the normal practice of the Oxford Union.

Initially, I was told there would be a small delay of around two weeks for editing and legal clearance. That was over six weeks ago.

It is worth noting that the previous time I was invited by this student society to take part in a debate about Israel, the handpicked audience and organisers subjected me and my fellow speakers to extensive abuse. My speech was interrupted and eventually they were forced to call in their security guards to remove at least one disruptive person. They chose to censor the video of that speech by muting several minutes of audio and selectively cutting to a camera which did not show the full extent of their reprehensible behaviour. They also withheld the videos of some of the other speakers entirely. Then, as now, I recorded my speech for my own records. I published the full, uncensored video, as well as the audio of one of the other speakers. This forced them to release their footage later on. The clip of the abuse itself, which they tried to hide, was viewed more than 13 million times online.

I therefore made clear before this debate that I would only participate if I could also film my own contribution for my records and protection. This was discussed before the debate, and my understanding is that the Union agreed to it. They had a legal advisor on site who witnessed this discussion and our agreement before the debate started. The consent form was also amended by hand to refer to alternate footage.

Extracts from the event have now appeared online through a third party, while the full official footage has still not been published by the Oxford Union. This is inconsistent with my understanding of the agreement.

I notified the bursar that this was unacceptable and asked that the full videos be uploaded this morning. They have not been published. I was then told that two speakers had not provided consent. That does not explain why my own contribution cannot be published: I had provided consent, and I had filmed my own speech with the Union’s knowledge and agreement.

In these circumstances, and given the public interest in a debate that was widely discussed in the press before and after it took place, I am publishing this independently filmed footage of my own contribution.

This is not the Oxford Union’s official recording. It does not use the Union’s official footage. Short ‘points of information’ are included only where necessary to understand my answers.

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