After sustained social media backlash, the University of the West Indies (UWI) St Augustine campus on Tuesday (May 7) cancelled an upcoming Zoom meeting to analyse the deadly Middle Eastern geopolitical conflict from an “Israeli perspective”. 

The May 9 virtual event, staged by the Institute of International Relations and dubbed Diplomatic Dialogue, was set to feature the non-resident Ambassador of Israel to CARICOM Itai Bardov. 

Has @UWI_StAugustine ABSOLUTELY LOST THE PLOT?!?!

Nah. Absolutely not. I’ll be logged on and loud.
You should too.

Use the link below to join this …..chat. 😒 https://t.co/qGpkWbfkTI pic.twitter.com/EZiTpcDa3w

— Nyssa (@kneezurr) May 7, 2024

St Augustine campus students immediately shared the meeting through social media platforms like X.com, formerly Twitter, which prompted questions as to why an ‘Israeli perspective’ was even necessary to establish. 

In light of Israel’s rigid, unrelenting assault on the Gaza Strip and the rejection of a ceasefire by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, UWI students expressed disappointment with the institute for ‘giving a platform to the aggressor’. 

Less than four hours after it was first advertised through its internal messaging centre, the meeting was cancelled after students registered en masse to disrupt Bardov’s presentation.