The University of Southampton in England has reportedly cancelled a conference challenging Israel’s very right to exist, according to organizers of the conference, although a university spokesperson denied the decision – was it merely be an attempt to pressure the university into ignoring opposition to the event?

The conference, entitled “International Law and the State of Israel,” in its own description says that “rather than focusing on Israeli actions in the 1967 Occupied Territories, the conference will focus on exploring themes of Legitimacy, Responsibility and Exceptionalism; all of which are posed by Israel’s very nature.”

Protests have broken out in response to the blatant attack on the Jewish state’s very legitimacy, and they succeeded in having it cancelled according to the organizers, who include Prof. Oren Ben-Dor and Prof. Suleiman Sharkh of Southampton University, Prof. George Bisharat of the University of California, and Juman Ismail.

“It is with extreme astonishment and sadness that we have to inform you that the University of Southampton has told us earlier yesterday (Monday 30 March 2015) that it intends to withdraw its permission to hold the academic conference on International Law and the State of Israel,” wrote the organizers in a statement. 

They added, “we were told that the decision was taken on the grounds of health and safety: a number of groups may be demonstrating for or against the conference which could present risks to the safety of the participants, students and staff.”

The organizers claim the decision was “taken under public pressure of the Israeli Lobby,” and threatened “legal emergency measures” to have the conference held, while calling for “the widest and most intense public campaign possible” to pressure the university into holding the conference.

However, a spokesperson from Southampton University said the discussion regarding the conference is still ongoing, and that a decision has yet to be made.

In a statement to Sussex Friends of Israel, the spokesperson said the university “is in discussion with the organisers of the conference…about the possibility of withdrawing permission for the event to be held on campus. However, this review process is still ongoing. Any decision will be judged purely on considerations around the health and safety of our staff, students and for the general public.”

Trying to make reason of the conflicting messages, blogger Elder of Ziyon wrote on Tuesday that “by announcing that the conference was canceled, and coupling that with a threat of legal action, they can force the university to either deny the news outright or to worry about the threats in case they were leaning towards cancellation. It also  gives the haters a chance to pressure the university.”

“The upshot is that we have seen, yet again, that the Israel haters rely on lies not only for their arguments but also to enable their lies to have a platform,” added the blog.