SOUTHAMPTON, England – An British university is facing immense criticism for an upcoming conference designed to question Israel’s legitimacy as a nation.

About 4,500 people have signed a petition on Change.org and many others are speaking out publicly in an attempt to cancel a three-day conference at Southampton University in April titled “International Law and the State of Israel: Legitimacy, Responsibility and Exceptionalism,” The Telegraph reports.

Organizers contend the conference is “the first of its kind and constitutes a ground-breaking historical event” that is “unique because it concerns the legitimacy of international law and the Jewish State of Israel,” according to the news site.

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“It concerns the legitimacy in International Law of the Jewish State of Israel. Rather than focusing on Israeli actions in the 1967 Occupied Territories, the conference will focus on exploring themes of Legitimacy, Responsibility and Exceptionalism; all of which are posed by Israel’s very nature,” according to the Southampton’s website.

But a growing chorus of critics are condemning the conference as a one-sided anti-Semetic conference designed to discredit Israel’s existence. Two major funders for the university have also threatened to cut off their support if the event goes forward.

Tim Sluckin, a math professor at Southampton and secretary of the Southampton Hebrew Congregation, called the event “a political meeting masquerading as academic activity,” the Telegraph reports.

“The purpose is to delegitimize Israel. This is not appropriate for a university. It makes me feel uncomfortable as a Jew, with Israeli family, that I have to take a public as opposed to private position on Middle Eastern politics,” he said.

“The university management has mishandled it, and failed to understand the political issues involved.”

Scheduled speakers at the event, which is set to run April 17 to 19, include Richard Falk, a former special rapporteur for Palestinian territories, as well as “anti-Zionist Israeli academic Ilan Pappe and Palestinian activist Ghada Karmi,” according to the news site.

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“Also due to speak is Dr Elias Khoury, a Lebanese novelist, who during the 1970s enlisted in Fatah, the largest armed group in the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), and fought in the Lebanese civil war.”

Those speakers, and the apparent one-sided nature of the conference, is also drawing criticism from some of the country’s top officials and community leaders.

Prominent attorney Mark Lewis told the Telegraph the event is “a one-sided conference, not a debate and I would want to raise serious questions about what students at this university are being taught and what the university believes.

“If Southampton allows teaching which does not present both sides of a case it would raise doubts in my mind about the suitability of a candidate from its School of Law. I would not look so favorably on those (resumes),” he said.

Andrew Sawczenko, a top pediatric doctor, went as far as to return his Bachelor of Medicine he earned in 1987 in protest of the event.

Mark Hoban, a member of parliament, has also been vocal in his opposition.

In a letter to the university, Hoban wrote that “while I fully support the principles of freedom of speech and the right to question I find it concerning that an institution as respected as the University of Southampton should host a hard-line, one-sided forum questioning and delegitimizing the existence of a democratic state,” according to the Daily Echo.

The country’s communities secretary also chimed in.

““There is a careful line between legitimate academic debate on international law and the actions of governments, and the far left’s bashing of Israel, which often descends into naked anti-Semitism,” Eric Pickles said.

University officials told the media they don’t plan to cancel the conference, which is expected to draw academics from around the world, including the United States.

A university spokesman made a statement to the Echo:

The University of Southampton is committed to academic freedom, free speech and opportunities for staff and students to engage with a wide range of opinions and perspectives.

Discussion and critical thinking are fundamental to our institution.

Our academics have freedom within University regulations to question and test received wisdom and put forward new ideas and explore controversial issues, whilst at the same time giving due regard for the need to respect others.

This conference aims to examine the role international law can play in political struggles and to act as a platform for scholarly debate.