The new Chancellor Lord Smith has said that his “personal view” is that Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank are “completely intolerable” and amount to “inhumanity and war crimes”.

His statement came in response to a question posed by a University of Cambridge alumnus at a Q&A last Saturday (27/09), organised as part of the Cambridge Alumni Festival.

In a video posted on the Instagram page of activist group Cambridge for Palestine, the Chancellor is asked: “What moral and academic responsibility does the University have in relation to the fact that Israel is currently carrying out apartheid and genocide?”

Lord Smith responded: “The first thing to say is that, as Chancellor, I have no say over what the University actually does in terms of research contracts, and donations, and all of that sort of thing.

“But, what I can give is a personal view, and my personal view is that what Nentanyahu’s government is doing in Gaza and the West Bank is completely intolerable. It amounts in my view to inhumanity and war crimes.

“Not only that but it is counterproductive in terms of the response to the equally intolerable Hamas attack two years ago on Israelis. That is my personal view. I will express that at any opportunity.

“I reject the Netanyahu attempt to equate opposition to what the Israeli government is doing with antisemitism,” he added.

Lord Smith’s role is mostly ceremonial with no executive power. However, the Chancellor does advise senior Cambridge officials, and acts as an ambassador for the University.

In their question, the alumnus said: “I’ve just come back from the West Bank and what I saw there is harrowing. I’m sure that you’re well aware of it as a patron of the Cambridge Centre of Palestinian Studies, but it’s basically racial apartheid.

“The University still has close links with companies operating in the West Bank, and that apply their technologies for genocide in Gaza, as the UN recently concluded it is. What’s your opinion on the fact that the University maintains these things?”

Lord Smith was elected Chancellor in July, having previously served as Master of Pembroke College, and Minister of Culture under Tony Blair.

After Lord Smith was elected, Cambridge for Palestine published an open letter calling on the Chancellor to speak up about Palestine.

Saturday’s event, a conversation between him and Vice-Chancellor Deborah Prentice, followed by an audience Q&A – was billed as “offering a deeper understanding of our new Chancellor and what he’s looking forward to about joining the University and its global community”.