UK student union accused of failing to protect Jews for nearly 2 decades

The NUS national headquarters in London,LOUIS ASHWORTH, https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/16925

An indecent report on the UK’s National Union of Students (NUS) found that the organization failed in its duty to protect Jewish students for nearly two decades.

The 108-page investigation by lawyer KC Rebecca Tuck found that the NUS allowed a “hostile environment” for Jews to fester for 17 years in contravention of the Equality Act of 2010, the UK Jewish News reported.

The report found that in seven out of eight alleged antisemitic incidents attributed to NUS officials it studied, “classic antisemitic tropes… and references to Hitler and Nazism were made when commenting on Israel.”

It also found that in one instance, the NUS refused to listen to a Jewish student who said that a student leader had urged at a meeting for a “final solution” on Jewish members on the organization’s Anti Racism Anti Fascism committee.

The report also examined the events leading up to the firing of former NUS President Shaima Dallali.

Dallali was fired by the student union in 2022 after a moths-long antisemitism probe, including an investigation into past antisemitic tweets.

Dallali was initially suspended in August 2022 as the union investigated claims of antisemitic tweets.

In May 2022, Dallali apologized after being called out for a past tweet referencing the Islamic chant calling for “the army of Mohammed” to attack the Jews.

After she won the election, the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) released a statement calling on her to discuss their misgivings over her “extremely challenging views.”

Weeks after the tweet was reported, the UK government made the unprecedented move of severing ties with the NUS.

The move by government comes after multiple antisemitism accusations against the national student body over a span of several years.

Universities Minister Michele Donelan instructed her department and its agencies to refrain from working with the union, and reported the NUS to the Charity Commission. The government also cut its funding, the Jewish Chronicle reported.

Tuck’s report also charged that the NUS refused to act on previous allegations involving antisemitism claims and did not keep records of such complaints.

The report found “numerous instances where Jewish students have suffered antisemitism because of assumptions that they are ‘Zionists’ and assumptions about what that means.”

“This has led to views within NUS both that complaints of antisemitism are made in bad faith to try and avert pro-Palestinian or anti-Israeli political advocacy, and to an antipathy towards Jewish students in spaces such as conferences. This has resulted in antisemitism as well as hostility towards Jews which has not been challenged sufficiently robustly or proactively by NUS,” the report concluded.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/365879

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