Charlie Kirk’s murder is a wake-up call on UK campus antisemitism

The shooting of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University should send a chill through every British parent, student, and policymaker. An attack like this does not come out of nowhere. It grows out of a culture in which intimidation, toxic rhetoric, and incitement are allowed to fester on campuses until words spill over into violence.

For years, many of us have warned that the atmosphere on university campuses is heading in this direction. Jewish and pro-Israel students in particular have described being shouted down, excluded, harassed, and in some cases physically threatened for expressing their identity or simply mourning Israeli victims. When slogans calling for “Intifada” or “resistance” are tolerated under the cover of free expression, it should surprise no one that some eventually take these words literally.

In Britain, this is no longer a hidden problem. Our Voice of Students 2024/25 report gathers over a hundred testimonies from students at more than twenty universities. They tell of lecturers legitimising terrorist groups, vigils disrupted by aggressive mobs, Jewish students doxed online, and administrators who dismiss complaints with phrases like “there are no further steps or actions related to this matter.” One student was told directly, “your people should not be alive.” Another was escorted off campus for safety during a peaceful memorial, while those shouting abuse were left to celebrate.

The evidence is overwhelming. Yet the institutional response is silence, delay, or inaction. Universities claim their hands are tied by freedom of speech obligations, while government departments prefer to look the other way. This abdication of responsibility is creating precisely the climate in which violence becomes possible.