Open University Lifts ‘Ancient Palestine’ Ban After UKLFI Pressure
The Open University (OU) has seemingly rescinded a pledge it once made to the pro-Israel lobby group UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) regarding the use of the term “ancient Palestine,” as highlighted by Novara Media. This decision follows a complaint from UKLFI, which had previously pushed for the exclusion of the term to avoid creating a “hostile or offensive learning environment for Jewish and Israeli students.”
In November 2025, UKLFI sent a letter to the OU, asserting that the term “ancient Palestine” was not historically accurate for the region until over a century after the Virgin Mary’s lifetime. The group argued that the name “Syria Palaestina” was introduced by Roman Emperor Hadrian, and claimed the OU’s use of “ancient Palestine” in a humanities module violated the Equality Act. The module described the Virgin Mary’s birthplace as “ancient Palestine” and included a map with the same label.
Adrienne Scullion, the OU’s head of the faculty of arts and social sciences, responded on 18 December, acknowledging that the term had become “problematic” in recent times. She stated, “We will not use the term again in future learning materials, and we will explain and contextualise its use in existing materials for current learners.”
Meanwhile, the Index of Repression, produced by the European Legal Support Centre and Forensic Architecture, classified UKLFI as a key actor in campaigns against Palestinian solidarity. Following UKLFI’s publicisation of the OU’s reversal, over 600 academics and public figures signed an open letter earlier this year, urging an “urgent public retraction” of the OU’s commitments to UKLFI.
“These commitments risk undermining the OU’s statutory duties under the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023. They also expose staff to harassment and enable the spread of disinformation,” the letter claimed.
The signatories included prominent historians such as Ilan Pappe and Avi Shlaim, alongside Palestinian scholars Rashid Khalidi and Nur Masalha. The letter was supported by the OU’s University and College Union branch. However, the university’s reversal has sparked debate, with an unnamed staff member noting a “clear contradiction” between the current statement and prior promises to UKLFI.
The OU’s statement, according to the staff member, “does not constitute a reasonable interpretation of the letter from 18 December.” This comes after a similar controversy involving the British Museum, which removed the term Palestine from exhibits on ancient Egypt and the Phoenicians. UKLFI had attributed this change to a complaint they had submitted, though the museum denied any direct link.
Novara Media reported that an OU spokesperson clarified academics can “freely use the term ‘ancient Palestine’ where scholarly appropriate” without a mandatory contextual note. The spokesperson added the original commitment applied to a single unit of work, now “scheduled for replacement.” Nonetheless, critics argue the statement undermines the university’s earlier concessions to UKLFI.
Other institutions have also faced pressure from UKLFI. Recently, it was revealed that Encyclopaedia Britannica had revised several entries in its Britannica Kids section, removing the term from regional maps after UKLFI’s influence. This trend continues to raise concerns about the impact of the group’s advocacy on academic discourse.
