Israeli minister sparks demo by students

EDINBURGH University security officers had to be brought in last night after 50 protesters claimed to have shut down a lecture by the Israeli foreign minister's special advisor.

The talk by Ishmael Khaldi, hosted by the University's Jewish society and held in Appleton Tower at 5.30pm, was delayed, then interrupted by students chanting support for Palestinian refugees.

However, security did not have to intervene and Mr Khaldi, advisor to Israel's foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman, left the stage after 45 minutes.

The protest followed a talk, hosted by Students for Justice in Palestine, earlier that day by US Iraq war veteran Mike Prysner, in which he linked US foreign policy to the suffering of the Palestinians.

The talk was set to be held by the International Relations society the previous night, but the society declined to host him.

President of the society, Ledys Sanjuan, said "The IR society had a long discussion about hosting Ishmael Khaldi. We came to the conclusion that providing a platform for a representative of the Israeli state would be at the expense of the millions of Palestinians who live under Apartheid."