Open University reverses UKLFI-influenced ‘ancient Palestine’ ban
Open University reverses UKLFI-influenced ‘ancient Palestine’ ban
Novara Media disclosed that the Open University (OU) has seemingly rescinded its agreement with the pro-Israel advocacy group UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) to cease employing the term ‘ancient Palestine’ in its academic content.
On 30 November 2025, UKLFI conveyed to the OU that the designation ‘ancient Palestine’ might foster a ‘hostile or offensive learning environment for Jewish and Israeli students’. The group asserted that the OU’s use of the term could contravene the Equality Act.
A humanities course at the OU referenced the Virgin Mary’s birthplace as ‘ancient Palestine’ and included a map titled ‘Map of Ancient Palestine’. UKLFI contended that the term ‘Palestine’ was not assigned to the region until ‘more than a century after Mary’s lifetime’, when Roman Emperor Hadrian rebranded it as ‘Syria Palaestina’.
In response, Adrienne Scullion, the OU’s head of the faculty of arts and social sciences, stated on 18 December that she acknowledged ‘ancient Palestine’ had become ‘problematic’ since the materials were initially composed in 2018. Scullion affirmed: “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.”
“There is a significant risk that these commitments could be interpreted as inconsistent with the OU’s statutory duties under the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 (HEFSA).”
Following the disclosure of the OU’s reversal, over 600 academics and public figures joined an open letter earlier this year, calling for an ‘urgent public retraction’ of the OU’s prior commitments to UKLFI. The letter highlighted that the commitments might ‘expose staff to harassment’, ‘set harmful precedents for further attacks on academic freedom’, and ‘make the OU complicit in the spread of disinformation and a politically motivated attempt to erase Palestine from history’. It was co-signed by Israeli historians Ilan Pappe and Avi Shlaim, alongside Palestinian scholars Rashid Khalidi and Nur Masalha, and backed by the OU’s University and College Union branch.
An unnamed OU staff member informed Novara Media that the university’s latest statement contradicts previous pledges made to UKLFI. They noted the OU’s claim that academics may freely use the term ‘ancient Palestine’ without mandatory contextualisation does not align with the December 18 letter.
UKLFI has been implicated in recent controversies, including the British Museum’s decision to remove the term ‘Palestine’ from exhibits on ancient Egypt and the Phoenicians. While the British Museum refuted this action being a direct reaction to UKLFI’s input, academics reaffirmed the term’s historical validity.
“I use the term ‘ancient Palestine’ frequently in my own research and will continue to do so,” said Marchella Ward, a classical studies lecturer at the Open University. She described claims about the term’s later origin as a “lie” intended to “erase Palestinians and support Israel’s ongoing genocide against them.”
The OU is part of a broader pattern of institutions under pressure from UKLFI. Recently, it was revealed that Encyclopaedia Britannica had revised entries in Britannica Kids to eliminate the term from maps of the region, prompted by UKLFI’s influence. Earlier in 2023, London’s Chelsea and Westminster Hospital removed an artwork created by students in Gaza, an action attributed by UKLFI director Caroline Turner to “patients’ complaints”.
