The head of the prestigious Oxford Union debate club is under investigation by UK counter-terrorism police for WhatsApp messages calling Hamas terrorists “heroes,” according to an advocacy group.
Arwa Elrayess, 20, was elected president of the group in March after the previous leader George Abraonye was removed following texts mocking Charlie Kirk’s assassination — only to find herself at the center of a firestorm after leaked messages showed her defending the terrorist organization.
over leaked text messages in which she lauded terrorist group Hamas. arwahaninelrayess/Instagram
Those texts have now been referred to the Metropolitan Police and Thames Valley Police by advocacy group UK Lawyers for Israel, which has called on authorities to investigate whether Elrayess violated Britain’s Terrorism Act, according to the organization.
In the WhatsApp group chat to more than 100 freshman Oxford University students, the third year philosophy, politics, and economics student whitewashed the terrorist organization as a “resistance group” and suggested that in the future they’d be considered “heroes.”
“Any resistance group will inevitably be deemed a ‘terrorist’ organization by the West until they achieve their liberation (by which time, they’ll be lauded as heroes, as history has repeatedly proven),” Elrayess wrote in the September 2025 message chain reviewed by The Post.
“I think the severity of resistance is often proportional to the severity of oppression,” Elrayess continued.
“There were forms of resistance in the past that ended with nothing but massacres. This is not to justify anything, but just to point out that it’s quite rich to allow for decades of systematic oppression and massacres, only to act shocked when the resistance movement responds with proportional severity,” she wrote.
When another student expressed shock that Elrayess was arguing that Hamas’ actions were “proportional,” she doubled down.
“Some would argue it’s less than proportional. have u seen what Israel has put Palestinians through for decades???” she wrote.
“Proportional does not mean ‘right’ by the way … just that u can’t be shocked that it happened,” she added.
Elrayess narrowly survived a vote of no confidence in the Oxford Union debate halls last week and has previously vowed not to resign from her position. The Post has reached out to her.
Advocacy group UK Lawyers for Israel slammed Elrayess for “normalizing” mass slaughter of Jews.
“The comments made by Ms. Elrayess in the WhatsApp group are deeply concerning. In our view, repeatedly describing Hamas as ‘the resistance movement’ and appearing to justify the atrocities committed on 7 October risks legitimizing a proscribed terrorist organization,” a spokesperson for the group told The Post.
“Freedom of expression is a fundamental value in a democratic society, but it does not extend to encouraging support for terrorism or excusing acts of mass murder,” the spokesperson said.
“Where statements appear to express support for a proscribed organization and are communicated to an audience of younger students, there are legitimate questions about whether such conduct falls within the scope of the Terrorism Act.”
The Oxford Union, the vaunted debate society founded in 1823, is comprised of standout students across from several member colleges in addition to Oxford University, and boasts notable alumni like former British prime ministers Boris Johnson and Tony Blair.
The Metropolitan Police referred The Post to the Thames Valley Police, which did not return a request for comment.
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