The University of Edinburgh is facing mounting criticism after platforming a pro-Palestinian campaigner with a history of inflammatory rhetoric to address students at a campus workshop.Zaid Jaloudi, who leads the US-based Global Student Palestine Network, delivered a talk on student activism at Old College on April 17.The speaker was permitted despite having previously likened Zionists to Nazis, and accused them of being “puppet masters” behind a “colonial empire” constructed “off the blood of Palestinians.”The Palestinian-American activist was invited by the university’s pro-Palestine society, drawing condemnation from politicians and Jewish student organisations alike.At a demonstration supporting the pro-Gaza encampment at Columbia University in New York in May 2024, Mr Jaloudi said: “So, I say to the Nazis. I meant Zionists, actually. “You will be remembered as the Nazis of this day. That ugly blue flag will no longer be an emoji one day.” During the same address, he posed a rhetorical question about who truly wielded power, dismissing figures including New York’s then-mayor Eric Adams, President Biden and the International Court of Justice.”It is the Zionist colonial empire! Built off of the blood of Palestinians!” he proclaimed, employing language that critics have condemned as invoking antisemitic tropes about Jewish control.University of Edinburgh acknowledged the event ‘has caused anxiety and distress for some members of our community’ | GETTYJackson Carlaw, former Scottish Conservative leader, branded the university’s decision “reckless and short-sighted”, and demanded answers from senior management.He said: “Bosses at Edinburgh University must urgently come clean on why they made this reckless and short-sighted decision.”Somebody with such extreme and appalling views should never have been given this platform by one of our oldest institutions.”Mr Carlaw warned that such choices were fuelling fear within Jewish communities, particularly in light of the recent stabbing of two Jewish men in Golders Green, declared an antisemitic terror incdient.”Decisions like this only add fuel to the fire and are exactly why Jewish communities are living in huge fear on a daily basis about what might happen to them,” he added.The former party leader called for universities to take greater responsibility in combating antisemitism through their speaker policies.Edinburgh’s Jewish Society further accused the university of dismissing their warnings about the speaker. President Oli Anslem said: “We have been continuously frustrated by the lack of action concerning antisemitism, and we believe something must change to truly safeguard and protect our Jewish students.”The Union of Jewish Students expressed disappointment that the event proceeded, noting Mr Jaloudi’s “track record of employing age-old tropes to target the Jewish community.”The Campaign Against Antisemitism described the decision as “appalling,” arguing it “prioritises foreign hate over the wellbeing of fee-paying British Jewish students.”A university spokesman acknowledged the event “has caused anxiety and distress for some members of our community”, but defended the institution’s commitment to freedom of expression, noting additional oversight measures had been implemented.