INTERVIEW – Arwa Elrayess: First Palestinian woman to lead Oxford Union defies smears to champion representation

By Aysu Bicer

OXFORD, England (AA) – When Arwa Hanin Elrayess first stepped beneath the portraits of British prime ministers and presidents that line the walls of the Oxford Union, she never imagined she would one day take her place among the institution’s most powerful figures.

The 200-year-old debating society – long seen as a breeding ground for Britain’s elite – has rarely opened its top ranks to women of color, let alone to a 19-year-old with roots in Gaza and Algeria.

But last Thursday, Elrayess, a philosophy, politics and economics student at St Edmund Hall, made history: she became the first Palestinian, the first Arab woman, and the first Algerian ever elected president of the Oxford Union.

“It still feels surreal,” she told Anadolu after her victory. “But I am here not despite my background. I am here because of it.”

Her win, celebrated across student communities from Oxford to Gaza, signals what many see as a generational shift – a widening of doors that once seemed permanently shut.

- A childhood split between worlds

Born in London to a Palestinian father and an Algerian mother, conversations at home were full of politics – occupation, resistance and identity.

While life in Britain meant these subjects remained at a distance, that gap vanished when her family moved to Gaza when she was five.

“You really don’t forget what you see there,” she said.

Her British passport enabled her to leave. Her Gaza-born cousins could not. The disparity left a question that has guided her life: “What is my duty as somebody in the diaspora?”

In her family, that question has a long and storied history.

Her great-grandfather Munir Muhammad al-Rayyes – a journalist and political leader – was Gaza’s mayor during some of its most turbulent times in the 1950s and 60s.

Her grandfather, Nahid Munir al-Rayyes, served as deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council and justice minister for the Palestinian Authority. He was also a poet whose writing shaped the Strip’s intellectual and political memory.

- Finding a voice after personal loss

Elrayess’ first major intervention in the Oxford Union chamber came during a debate on Palestine and Israel. This was in October 2024, a year into Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, and just weeks after her family home had been bombed and several relatives killed.

She stood up and spoke about them.

“It was one of the first moments in my life where I felt like I could freely and openly talk about my experiences,” she recalled.

After the debate, a student approached to say the conflict no longer felt distant.

“For the very first time, he felt an emotional connection to the cause,” she said.

That moment became her turning point – as proof that voice is still one of the most powerful tools young people possess.

- Breaking Oxford Union’s ‘bubble’

The Oxford Union has tens of thousands of members, yet only a small committee has typically shaped its agenda.

President-elect Elrayess wants to open that circle.

“Oxford Union is, unfortunately, a bubble,” she said. “There are incredible stories to hear … incredible debates to hold.”

Elrayess said students from marginalized communities often assume this space is “not made for people like them,” and she intends to prove the opposite.

“You do deserve a place in them,” she asserted. “And you are able to pave your way within them.”

- Refusing to back down

Her campaign was marred by intimidation and false allegations.

“I faced countless smear campaigns. I was called an extremist antisemite,” she said, adding that people also accused her of being “on a counter-terrorism watchlist.”

Some even warned her supporters they could face “counter-terrorism charges” for helping her.

For Elrayess, attempts to discredit her were expected, but the real test was ensuring her team did not lose faith: “If they are successful in scaring you away, then nothing ever changes … They will continue to scare away people who also want to speak up like you.”

Her team – diverse in background, politics and identity – never walked away.

“I had many Jewish students running on my campaign … People from all sorts of walks of life, different ideologies, different political beliefs – Conservatives, Labour, Liberals.”

She sees parallels with her predecessor, Ebrahim Osman-Mowafy, Oxford Union’s first Arab president, who briefly faced disqualification before being reinstated.

These patterns, she argued, show why representation still matters and why it is so fiercely resisted.

- A win that echoes far beyond Oxford

Elrayess’ election resonates not only because of her identity, but because of what she represents: a generation that no longer waits to be invited inside.

To Palestinians, to young people of color, and to anyone who feels unheard or unwelcome in elite spaces, she offers this: “You might think they are far too abstract and far too closed off, but you do deserve a place in them.”

She knows the fear of visibility.

“You might feel afraid that you’re going to be attacked and targeted, and you probably will,” she said. “But for every one person who’s willing to put you down, there’s 10 people who are willing to pick you back up … You need to take the first step so that somebody else after you can take the next one.”

And she believes the moment is ripe.

“There are very few moments in history where such changes are so clear and visible to everyone,” she says. “Make sure you use the best out of the opportunity.”

For Elrayess, breaking a glass ceiling is only the beginning.

“I am here because I have something to contribute to the conversation,” she said. “Once you break that glass ceiling, it makes it so much easier for others to continue to break those glass ceilings.”