More than 100 young people gathered in the English countryside for what organisers called a summer school. Instead of hiking and games, they were led in Arabic chants calling for victory over Zionism and declaring “our country is an Arab country.”
Footage of the event, later posted by the organisers themselves, has forced a public investigation and raised serious questions about what is being allowed to take place on British soil under the banner of “youth education.”
The four-day residential, organised by Palestinian Youth Movement Britain, took place at the Youth Hostel Association’s Edale Activity Centre in the Peak District over the late May bank holiday.
Participants recited anti-Israel slogans and discussed the “next phase of our national liberation struggle.”
Classroom sessions featured lectures on Ghassan Kanafani, the former spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a group designated as a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union.
A banner in Arabic declared “Our revolution is for victory.”
In videos shared by the group, a woman leads the attendees in chants that include “We will crush Zionism” and “Young people, rise up, our revolution is an Arab revolution.”
One version captured by The Telegraph translates as: “We will have victory over Zionism, we will return, young people rise up, our country is an Arab country.”
The same organisation later organised a community football tournament in North Kensington. Photographs showed children wearing shirts numbered 7 and 10, widely interpreted as a reference to the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel.
An organiser appeared in a shirt bearing the number 40 and the slogan “The future is decolonial.”
Palestinian Youth Movement Britain describes itself as a grassroots movement organising Palestinian and Arab youth “to struggle for Palestinian liberation.”
Its own Instagram post about the Peak District gathering stated: “Together we discussed what the last two years have looked like in our region, and our role as diaspora youth in the next phase of our national liberation struggle.”
The event mixed political and historical sessions with a hike and a cultural night of “revolutionary songs and poetry.”
The Youth Hostel Association has opened an investigation. A spokesman confirmed the booking was private and that YHA “was not involved in organising, delivering or supervising the group’s programme or activities.”
The organisation stated: “We are aware of the concerns raised regarding footage reportedly recorded during the group’s stay. The views or activities of private groups using our facilities do not represent YHA’s views or values. YHA is committed to providing welcoming, inclusive, and respectful spaces for everyone. We are actively investigating the circumstances surrounding this booking, including whether any of our terms and conditions or policies may have been breached. We will consider any appropriate action once that review has been completed.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism has written to the Charity Commission. The group said: “British summer camps should be places where children build friendships, not where they are exposed to political indoctrination and extremist ideology. Encouraging children to chant slogans calling for the destruction of Zionism is fundamentally at odds with the values of tolerance and mutual respect.”
Heidi Bachram, whose family members were murdered and taken hostage by Hamas on 7 October, responded: “It is deeply chilling to see young people in the UK being programmed to hate and inspired by terrorists. Our family was murdered in Israel by those who act on this violent ideology. I fear where this will lead. We need urgent action to stop this vile brainwashing and shut these organisations down.”
The Peak District episode is not an isolated curiosity. It sits against a backdrop of rising concern that parts of Britain’s diaspora activism have shifted from protest into the systematic transmission of rejectionist ideology to the next generation.
When young people in the heart of England are taught to chant that “our country is an Arab country” and to celebrate figures linked to designated terrorist groups, the question is no longer whether something has gone wrong.
The question is how long authorities will continue treating it as someone else’s problem.
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