BREAKING: Protesters gather ahead of controversial Israeli ambassador visit

• International Relations Society hosting Israeli ambassador to UK in basement lecture theatre on Bedford Way 
• Friends of Palestine President says “deeply insensitive” invitation amounts to “tacit endorsement of war crimes”
• Police and college security on hand to oversee peaceful protest 

UCLU Friends of Palestine are tonight staging a silent protest outside college buildings on Bedford Way in anticipation of the visit of Israeli ambassador Daniel Taub.

A crowd of protestors, their mouths sealed with masking tape, gathered outside the building’s entrance just before 5pm holding placards naming Palestinian victims of the Arab-Israeli conflict and a banner bearing the number of Palestinians killed by the Israeli state.

Speaking exclusively to The Tab, UCLU Friends of Palestine President Daniel Hayeem was scathing in his criticism of the International Relations Society, who organised the event and invited Taub, a UCL alumnus, onto campus.

Hayeem said: “The invitation of the Israeli ambassador to UCL amounts to tacit endorsement of war crimes.

“Part of his role is to whitewash the crimes and policies of the Israeli state.

“It is deeply insensitive that the society decided to invite him to speak after this summer and after the aggression against Gaza.”

Daniel Hayeem

The Friends of Palestine President said that the protestors did not intend to physically stop or intercept the ambassador.

The crowds were initially overseen by UCL Security, there is currently a growing police presence in the area – including a riot van, as well as officers inside the building on Bedford Way.

International Relations Society have declined to comment and the Facebook event for the talk has now been deleted.

Daniel Taub addressing the Bedford Way lecture theatre

More to follow.