Nuffield JCR condemns invite to controversial Israeli philosopher

Controversial Israeli political philosopher Professor Daniel Statman has been invited to visit Nuffield College for Trinity Term, despite a JCR statement condemning the decision. 

The statement, approved by Nuffield College JCR on 12^th March and circulated by the JCR President Isabella Cuervo-Lorens on 23rd April, accuses Professor Statman of producing academic work which “justifies genocide and war crimes” with “an underlying agenda – creating ethical justifications for Israel’s genocide”. Professor Statman was contacted for comment.

A Nuffield College spokesperson told Cherwell: “The college has given serious consideration to the concerns raised, and has taken the view that Professor Statman has not engaged in unlawful speech or conduct.”

Professor Statman is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Haifa, Israel, and specialises in “ethics and political philosophy”. His time at Nuffield College forms part of a sabbatical from his work at the University of Haifa for spring 2026. 

The statement also quoted comments made by Professor Statman on an episode of the 18Forty Podcast released in October 2023, and recorded after the 7^th October terrorist attacks by Hamas in southern Israel and the beginning of Israeli military action in Gaza. In a section of the interview highlighted by the JCR, Professor Statman said: “I don’t have this very strong moral revulsion or moral sadness or regret by the knowledge of the death of these civilians”, and claimed “it’s okay to kill them”, citing “the principle of collateral harm”. In the same conversation, he acknowledged that civilians in Gaza “don’t deserve to die”, even if they are not “completely innocent”.

In the interview, he also rebutted claims that civilians in Gaza had been left with no safe space  from Israeli military action, saying, “I’m not very convinced by the claim they have nowhere to go to. They have places to go to. Orchards, the beaches and so on”.  He claimed there were “zero publications…in serious journals by Arab philosophers” and that Arab academics were “not part of the philosophical discourse at all”.

Signatories to the letter included academics from a range of University faculties and colleges, including those currently employed at Nuffield College. The JCR statement warned that Professor Statman’s presence at the college posed a risk to students and academics who were “visibly pro-Palestine in College, particularly those who frequently transit through Israel to visit friends and family.

In a comment, JCR President Cuervo-Lorens told Cherwell: “The JCR and wider College community became aware of Mr Statman’s plans in Week 8 of Hilary Term 2026”, and that “the statement passed by a wide, near unanimous margin via anonymous vote [by Nuffield JCR members]”.

A Nuffield College spokesperson told Cherwell that the invitation to Professor Statman to visit the College was sent in “the summer of 2023…on the basis of his long-standing work on political philosophy”. The spokesperson described the invitation as “part of the College’s long-standing programme of regular academic visitorships, through which we host researchers from other UK and international institutions.

“As a College of the University of Oxford and an academic institution in their own right, we are committed to protecting lawful freedom of speech and academic freedom, and to providing an environment for rigorous academic engagement, open inquiry and critical debate within the law, where all members of our community are supported and treated with dignity, respect and civility.”

Professor Statman has written several philosophical works. His book War by Agreement: A Contractarian Ethics of War was published by Oxford University Press in 2019. Outside of academia, he has served on public committees to revise the ethical code of the Israel Defense Force and to review requests for exemption from army service for Israeli citizens on the grounds of conscience.