A pro-Israel student who wrote about being the target of “anti-Jewish” hatred at a London university disrupted a vigil held for alumni killed in Gaza and appears to have edited quotes to support her case, according to a log of group messages seen by Middle East Eye.
Tali Smus, who calls herself “the British Zioness” on Instagram, recently wrote an article for the Telegraph with the headline: “As a Jewish student at King’s College, I’m being persecuted for my beliefs.”
In it, she describes being left in tears at the beginning of her course in September 2024 after fellow English literature students in an Instagram group chat attacked her for being a “fucking Zionist”.
Smus writes that she was ganged up on “almost 100 against one”, after she “tried to discuss our differing views and have a productive conversation”.
“I am a Jewish student at King’s College London (KCL), and I refuse to remain a statistic. The anti-Jewish hatred I faced will not remain a statistic,” she writes in conclusion.
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Published on 17 July, the Telegraph article appeared shortly after an Al Jazeera investigation into the university’s “crackdown on pro-Palestine students”, at a time when a government “review into antisemitism in schools and colleges in England” is being conducted.
But the quotes Smus uses in support of the claim that she has been the victim of “anti-Jewish hatred” are different to those contained in a log of the group chat the messages supposedly came from – a group she remained in and kept messaging long after the time in question.
She also has past and present connections to multiple “extreme” Israel advocacy groups with a track record of smearing and intimidating Palestinians and pro-Palestine activists.
Over the weekend, Smus appeared on GB News billed as the Emerson Fellow for Stand With Us, a right-wing pro-Israel group described by the Guardian as having “worked closely with the Israeli foreign ministry, including to oppose pro-Palestinian boycotts”.
She also held a fellowship and has produced media content for the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (Camera) and is the president of the KCL chapter of Students Supporting Israel, which is partially funded by the Adelson family, who successfully lobbied US President Donald Trump to move the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
Camera describes its fellows as “leaders on campuses across North America, the UK, and Israel, proactively spreading the truth about Israel”. It also connects them to media outlets.
In July 2025, Smus began a blog for the Times of Israel: “So you’ve heard of James O’Brien. The antisemitic commentator on LBC.”
According to her LinkedIn page, Smus was a research assistant at the right-wing Henry Jackson Society – whose senior associate fellow, former British army officer Andrew Fox, has amplified Smus’s story – and is currently a policy research intern for Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp, who she met at Britain’s March Against Antisemitism.
Tali Smus did not respond to multiple emails from MEE relating to the allegations contained in this article. The Telegraph did not respond to similar questions and a request for comment.
Quotes and messages
In her Telegraph article, Smus says that one other student in the group chat messaged, in relation to her: “If she interrupts the… lecture again tomorrow… she should be thrown out.”
The actual message in the chat seen by Middle East Eye reads: “If she interrupts the writing London lecture again tomorrow I swear to god she should be thrown out” – it is official KCL policy for teachers to ask disruptive students to leave a lecture theatre or teaching room.
She goes on to write that another student then messaged: “As a group we should just band together and carry her out at that point.”
While it is possible that this message could have been sent then deleted, Smus did not respond when asked if she could provide evidence it was sent.
Elsewhere, according to the message log, Smus appears to have amended messages relating to her.
In one case she writes that someone messaged “bitch get down” – which would be a direct threat to her – when the message log contains, “that bitch has gotten down”, which, however unpleasant, is a description, and was sent in the context of Smus having unfurled an Israeli flag on campus in front of a pro-Palestine demonstration.
The log shows that another student wrote about “an attempt to educate the zionists”, while the Telegraph article records this as “finally, an attempt to educate the zionists”.
Smus writes that it was “almost 100 against one”, meaning that the entire group was against her, but a review of the messages shows that it was closer to 20 students who took issue with her position on Israel and particularly its genocide in Gaza.
At one point, one student stands up for Smus, messaging: “What’s up with the bullying guys? This goes beyond difference of political ideologies or beliefs – it’s straight up harassment… Please be respectful.”
Smus has remained in the group and continues to send messages in it to this day.
Waving an Israel flag at a pro-Palestine vigil
While other students in the group acknowledged that some of the messages sent to Smus could have been upsetting, they were insistent that it was her support for Israel – not her identity as a Jewish student – that provoked their ire.
‘She’s scared to attend classes but feels safe to attend demonstrations that should be hostile to her’
– KCL academic
In October 2024, shortly after the messages were sent, KCL circulated an email reminding student of their conduct obligations.
On 7 October 2024, a pro-Palestine walk-out and demonstration was held on campus. The action was partly held in memory of Dr Maisara Alrayyes and Dr Adnan al-Bursh, two KCL alumni killed by Israel.
In her Telegraph article, Smus writes that on “the first anniversary of Hamas’s horrifying attack on Israel, activist students planned a pro-Palestine walk-out to mark ‘one year of genocide’”.
“The fact that 1,200 innocent Israelis were murdered on that day, with more than 250 others taken hostage, did not matter,” she continues.
What she does not say is that she was part of a pro-Israel counter demonstration and was pictured holding a large Israel flag. She does not mention that the walk-out was in part a vigil for the two alumni killed by Israel.
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“She’s scared to attend classes but feels safe to attend demonstrations that should be hostile to her, in order to make Instagram content,” one KCL academic, who cannot be named, told MEE. “Other students don’t like her. That’s about as far as it goes.”
“I do think that some of my messages, as well as those of others, could be viewed by some as distasteful,” one fellow student in the group chat said.
“I regret some of the wording I used – I was in my first year of university and encountering someone who unapologetically supports Israel’s atrocious actions in Gaza hit a nerve with me and many others.”
In the Telegraph, Smus writes that she was opposed because she “did not hate Israel” and that this, combined with her Jewish identity, led to a “torrent of abuse”.
But the group chat log shows that she made clear from the start that she was someone who had long supported Israel and defended its actions.
It is for this reason, fellow students and academic staff say, that she has been attacked.
