London student who cut down ribbons for Israeli hostages speaks out against backlash

A London student who was filmed cutting down ribbons for Israeli hostages has spoken out against the backlash she’s received.

Nadia Yahlom, a Palestinian-Jewish PhD student at the University of Westminster, removed yellow ribbons tied for Israeli hostages of Hamas on the second anniversary of the Nova Music Festival attack.

According to the BBC, Nadia and her husband have now claimed they were “attacked” by Mossad, Israel’s national intelligence agency.

Wife of Palestinian actor Mo’min Swaitat, the student said she carried out the act in defiance of what she called “condoning genocide”, with a video of the incident sparking widespread outrage among the Jewish community. 

The ribbons were tied to the railings of a Muswell Hill synagogue and form part of the “Bring Them Home” campaign, symbolising calls for Hamas to return the Israeli hostages taken during the attack on 7th October 2023.

Following the incident, Nadia’s social media accounts flooded with messages condemning her actions.

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Now, Nadia and her husband, Mo’min, claim “an extremist group, probably working for Mossad,” was behind the backlash. He added: “We have been attacked and stranded to be killed.”

Just days prior to the incident, Mo’min’s Instagram contained posts referring to Israel as “the military colonial settler state.” Since the footage went viral, both the student and her husband deactivated their social media platforms or switched them to private.

Nadia has long been vocal about her support for the Palestinian cause. She is a co-founder of Sarha Collective, a platform showcasing Palestinian experimental arts.

Support for the pro-Palestinian movement has gained popularity in recent years, drawing particular involvement from student-led societies.

A number of these, Westminster University, have been implicated in controversies over allegations of antisemitism, with Nadia’s recent public controversy prompting scrutiny over the appropriateness of her advocacy.

The incident occurred just one day before October 7th, marking the second anniversary of the Israel-Gaza war; however, the student maintains she was unaware of this at the time.

In an interview with the BBC, Nadia defended her actions, insisting she had done nothing wrong. She argued that cutting down the hostage ribbons had not been immoral, and that she was “not committing a crime.” 

The pro-Palestine activist went on to say the yellow ribbons did not “truly represent” Israeli civilian hostages.

“It’s a deliberate attempt on the part of those who have led this witch hunt against me to do that,” she said, before making further claims that media coverage of her actions intentionally distracted from Palestinian loss of life. 

She continues to defend her campaign as “a peaceful form of protest”.

The dispute prompted the Metropolitan Police to dispatch a local force to investigate the incident. Officers must determine whether Nadia perpetrated a deliberate act of hostility, such as a hate crime or criminal damage. 

The University of Westminster and the Israeli Embassy did not respond to a request for comment.

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