An Oxford University student accused of making anti-Semitic chants at a pro-Palestine demonstration will have to wait two years for trial. Samuel Williams, 21, allegedly stirred up racial hatred at a Palestine Coalition rally in Whitehall, central London on October 11.
He is said to have shouted for Gaza to “put the Zios in the ground” in a video posted online. The term “Zio” is an offensive reference to Zionists, which some have interpreted as calling for death to Jews.
On Tuesday, Williams appeared at Southwark Crown Court and spoke to confirm his name and plead not guilty. He denies using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour. Williams was given conditional bail and told a trial date was set for January 17 2028.
The footage appeared to show an individual tell the crowd: “A steadfast and noble resistance in Palestine and in Gaza to look to, to be inspired by and – I don’t want to yap for too long – but a chant that we’ve been workshopping in Oxford that maybe you guys want to join in. It goes ‘Gaza, Gaza make us proud, put the Zios in the ground’.”
Williams, a philosophy, politics and economics student at Balliol College, was suspended by Oxford University at the time. Before winning a place at Oxford, he attended Bennett Memorial Diocesan School in Tunbridge Wells where former classmates remember him coming “top in almost everything”.
