Open University U-Turns on ‘Ancient Palestine’ Ban

[Mid-18th century fresco depicting the Virgin Mary and child Christ in the church of Agios Giorgos in Proastio, Outer Mani, Greece. Alamy/Reuters]

The Open University (OU) appears to have rowed back on a commitment it made to a pro-Israel lobby group to stop using the term ‘ancient Palestine’ which sparked outrage among teaching staff and high-profile academics.

UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) – an association of lawyers which works to [“support Israel using their legal skills”][1] – sent a letter to the OU on 30 November 2025 complaining about the use of the term ‘ancient Palestine’ in a textbook and video in reference to the birthplace of the Virgin Mary.

UKLFI told the OU that the term ‘ancient Palestine” could be a violation of the Equalities Act because it could “harass” Jewish or Israeli students by creating “an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment”. UKLFI also claimed the term “feeds into recent efforts by anti-Israel activists to spread disinformation that ‘Jesus was Palestinian’”.

The OU took just 18 days to [agree to the lawfare group’s demand][2], despite admitting that the term is “academically appropriate”. Writing on behalf of the university at the instruction of vice-chancellor David Phoenix, Arts and Social Science faculty head Adrienne Scullion told UKLFI her team “accept[s] that the term is now problematic in a way that, perhaps, it was not when the materials were written in 2018”.

Scullion added: “We will not use the term ‘ancient Palestine’ in any future course materials, and we will explain and contextualise its use in existing materials for current learners.” Later on in her letter, exposed by a Freedom of Information request from the OU’s Palestine Solidarity Group, Scullion repeated this commitment.

UKLFI reported on Scullion’s commitments [as a win][3], with director Caroline Turner saying: “We welcome the Open University’s decision to stop using the term ‘ancient Palestine’ in its future teaching materials.”

However, after reporting [in the British][4] and [Israeli press][5], as well as backlash from over 600 academics and public figures who signed an [open letter calling on the OU to make an urgent public retraction][6], the university appears to have changed course.

An OU spokesperson told Novara Media that the university’s position is that academics “are free to use the term ‘ancient Palestine’ where scholarly appropriate in teaching and learning materials”, and that the contextual note agreed by Scullion only applies to one current module within Arts and Social Sciences.

The spokesperson added that there is no requirement for academics to use a contextual note on the term ‘ancient Palestine’ unless they deem it academically appropriate.

When pressed on why Scullion had agreed to “not use the term ‘ancient Palestine’ in any future course materials” in her letter to UKLFI, the university spokesperson claimed that this was in specific reference to one unit of work which is “scheduled for replacement”, but could not adequately explain why she used such broad wording or why there was no mention of the unit being replaced in the letter.

An OU staff member who preferred not to be named due to fear of professional reprisals told Novara Media that a “clear contradiction” exists between the OU administration’s statements and the commitments made to the UKLFI as revealed by the FOI request.

They said the university administration’s “subsequent attempts” to suggest that commitments were limited to a single module and its renewal “do not constitute a reasonable interpretation of the letter from 18 December – nor do they seem to align with the OU’s own processes of module production”.

Academics and legal experts have warned that the OU capitulating to the demands of an external lobby group creates a “significant risk” that the institution could breach the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 (HEFSA).

HEFSA means universities have a legal duty to take reasonable steps to secure freedom of speech and academic freedom within the law, and to protect staff and students from undue pressures, such as lobbying groups. Legal experts told Novara Media that by making commitments to UKLFI, the OU could be in breach of HEFSA.

The OU staffer told Novara Media they believe that “no commitments on caveats or future terminology usage should have been made to external lobbyists”, and that the OU should conduct a thorough and independent inquiry as to how the incident occurred.

Letter from OU Arts and Social Science faculty head Adrienne Scullion to UKLFI, pages 1 and 2 Letter from OU Arts and Social Science faculty head Adrienne Scullion to UKLFI, pages 3 and 4

Signatories of the open letter to the OU include renowned Israeli historians Ilan Pappé and Avi Shlaim, Palestinian historians Rashid Khalidi and Nur Masalha, along with Judith Butler, Yanis Varoufakis and Jeremy Corbyn. It was also [endorsed by the OU’s University and College Union branch][7]. Corbyn told Novara Media that an agreement to stop using the term ‘ancient Palestine’ amounted to “anti-Palestinian racism” and an “assault on academic freedom”.

The offending text from OU course materials highlighted by UKLFI includes a description of the Virgin Mary as a “Jewish woman in ancient Palestine”, a description of Aramaic as “a language widely spoken in ancient Palestine”, and a map labelled as showing “ancient Palestine”.

UKLFI claimed that the term ‘ancient Palestine’ is historically inaccurate because Mary was born in the late first century BC in Galilee, “which, along with the neighbouring territories of Judea and Samaria, was a predominantly Jewish area under Roman rule”, and these territories are not in the same areas that Greek historian and geographer Herodotus classed as Palestine in fifth century BC.

However, OU Classical Studies lecturer Chella Ward said the term ‘ancient Palestine’ is the “most accurate way to refer to this region at this time in antiquity” and called the idea that this is “a late-coming or illegitimate term” a “Zionist lie, aimed at the erasure of Palestinians and in support of the ongoing genocide against them”.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign’s deputy director Ryvka Barnard told Novara Media the OU had “made itself complicit” in a “racist campaign to erase Palestinian history, all whilst Israel attempts to eliminate the Palestinian people through its genocide”.

An OU spokesperson said: “There has been no institutional discussion about prohibiting or removing the term ‘ancient Palestine’. The use of terminology in all our curriculum remains a matter for academic judgement, consistent with our commitment to academic freedom and scholarly independence.”

The row over the OU’s commitments to UKLFI comes after another furore around the [lobby group’s claim last month][8] that the British Museum was updating some displays to remove the word ‘Palestine’ following a UKLFI complaint. [A museum spokesperson denied ][9]that any text in labels or gallery panels had been altered as a response to UKLFI, and said the review and update to displays began “over a year ago”.

UKLFI [operates by sending legal letters][10] to public bodies and [private companies][11] across Britain. It has previously [hounded NHS trusts][12], local councils, high-profile creatives, and [private citizens][13], demanding symbols of Palestinian solidarity be banned and even that [Palestinian children’s artwork be taken down][14].

The pro-Israel lobby group has repeatedly intervened in education, [targeting schools ][15]and [educational publishers][16] over alleged “pro-Palestinian bias” in textbooks and exam papers. UKLFI [successfully forced publisher Pearson][17] to withdraw a GCSE exam paper in June 2023 because a question about a doctor’s experiences of operating on a child in al-Shifa hospital in Gaza “could have distressed students who are supportive of Israel during the exam”.

Israel’s genocide in Gaza has killed a conservative estimate of 72,000 Palestinians, with children the worst impacted. UNICEF estimates that [64,000 children were killed or injured by Israel ][18]in the two years since October 2023.

[1]: https://www.uklfi.com/about-us-2
[2]: https://www.uklfi.com/open-university-agrees-to-change-use-of-ancient-palestine-following-uklfi-intervention
[3]: https://www.uklfi.com/open-university-agrees-to-change-use-of-ancient-palestine-following-uklfi-intervention
[4]: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/02/academic-freedom-speech-open-university-palestine-israel
[5]: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/421012
[6]: https://docs.google.com/document/u/3/d/e/2PACX-1vQkTPnYNKc-kpm9lLTzdw-TAcRm75o57VGziPimNEeNmGOoxH_mwixhcGvDwwMQbUmuzbfoEpnszGmT/pub
[7]: https://ucu.open.ac.uk/z/motions-passed-general-meetings-2026
[8]: https://www.uklfi.com/british-museum-reviewing-palestine-terminology-in-galleries-after-audience-testing
[9]: https://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/news/2026/02/row-after-british-museum-removes-term-palestine-from-some-displays/#
[10]: https://novaramedia.com/2025/07/28/meet-the-pro-israel-lawyers-hounding-the-nhs/
[11]: https://www.uklfi.com/hornby-hobbies-withdraws-gaza-paint-pens-for-repackaging
[12]: https://novaramedia.com/2025/07/11/revealed-how-pro-israel-lawyers-threatened-nhs-over-palestine-badges/
[13]: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/06/21/pro-palestine-nutritionists-gives-anti-israel-diet-advice/
[14]: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/feb/27/artwork-gaza-schoolchildren-removed-chelsea-and-westminster-hospital
[15]: https://www.uklfi.com/leeds-grammar-school-amends-religious-studies-resource-following-concerns-raised-by-uklfi-and-parents
[16]: https://www.uklfi.com/pearson-issues-revised-history-text-books-following-review
[17]: https://www.uklfi.com/exam-board-removes-english-language-gcse-question-paper-featuring-doctor-in-gaza-hospital#:~:text=An%20English%20language%20GCSE%20paper,as%20a%20matter%20of%20urgency.
[18]: https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/two-years-hellish-war-have-devastated-gazas-children


https://novaramedia.com/2026/03/03/open-university-u-turns-on-ancient-palestine-ban/