Outrage after NEU branch stopped Jewish MP from visiting local school

The post went on: “We celebrate this cancellation as a win for safeguarding, solidarity, and for the power of the NEU trade union staff group, parents, and campaigners standing together”, along with an emoji of the Palestinian flag.

Speaking at the Jewish Labour Movement conference this Sunday, the communities secretary made reference to the incident.

Without naming Egan, Steve Reed told the audience: “I have a colleague who is Jewish, who has been banned from visiting a school – refused permission to visit a school in his own constituency – in case his presence inflames the teachers. It’s an absolute outrage that that could have possibly ever happened.”

He went on to say that those responsible would be “called in and they will be held to account for doing that”, adding “because you cannot have people with those kind of attitudes teaching our children”.

The post by the NEU came to light after Reed’s comments.

The union has since been subject to significant criticism.

Russell Langer, director of public affairs at the Jewish Leadership Council, told the JC: “The increase in antisemitism in schools is one of the most concerning aspects of the spread of this hatred we are witnessing in Britain. Some teaching unions, including the NEU, have repeatedly shown that they are a key part of that problem.

“Students should be taught to critically engage with their local elected politicians. A Jewish MP being blocked from visiting a school in his constituency is not only an outrage, it is a failure of our education system.”

Jonathan Hall KC, the government’s independent reviewer of terrorism and state threats legislation, also criticised the incident.

He was asked about the incident after giving a speech at think-tank Policy Exchange on terrorism, hatred and the law in the aftermath of the terror attack on Bondi Beach in Australia.

He responded: “Human rights organisations, unions, people with principles, spend a lot of time, quite rightly, trying not to make groups of people suspect. That seems to have completely gone out of the window, and no-one seems to have said to themselves ‘might this look antisemitic?, Might this look anti-Israeli? Can we afford to risk someone with different views to our own?’ Because the consequence is of driving an MP away from schools in his own constituency.”

The NEU has previously been accused of spreading “extreme hatred of Israel” after backing a motion at a trade union conference that attacked Israel and accused it of “ethnic cleansing” but did not mention Hamas’ atrocities in Gaza.

The union’s general secretary Daniel Kebede has also been criticised for saying “globalise the intifada” at a Palestine Solidarity Campaign rally in 2021, seen by many as a call for violence but which he claimed was an expression “of support for civic protests; it did not convey any support for violence.”

A spokesperson from the NEU told the JC that the organisation was “rooted in anti-racism in all forms, including antisemitism” and that the union’s head office “had no knowledge that the school had rescinded the invite to the local MP until it was reported in the press yesterday”.

Their statement continued: “Indeed, the school is quoted as saying this was a decision that they took and the visit has been rescheduled.

“It is good that MPs, especially those in the party of government, seek to engage with schools, especially on issues such as the dire state of school funding, the intensity of teaching and the impact of social media on young people.

“It is also legitimate for constituents to express their views to MPs on national and international issues, including the extraordinary human suffering in Gaza. The NEU believes in democratic engagement. Central to that is dialogue and discussion, and sometimes this will include a robust exchange of views.

"The NEU strongly believes that education must be a tool in challenging antisemitism and responding to incidents of antisemitism in schools or local communities. The NEU takes this position very seriously. The historical causes of antisemitism must be covered in classes, using the whole curriculum and developing a whole-school culture where racism is taken seriously and challenged."