It is inspiring to see so many Jewish students taking an active role in their student movement, going beyond their own universities to fight racism and seek a positive and pragmatic approach to Israel and Palestine.
April 24, 2015 10:02
When you consider that in the past year a radical minority within the UK student movement have tried to demonise Israel and trivialise Jewish students’ concerns about antisemitism, it is inspiring to see so many Jewish students taking an active role in their student movement, going beyond their own universities to fight racism and seek a positive and pragmatic approach to Israel and Palestine.
Clearly the events of last summer have galvanised some in supporting divisive tactics such as BDS on campus. Whereas last year a handful of students unions passed boycott motions, since Operation Protective Edge over a dozen BDS motions have passed and a fringe of activists agitated for the NUS conference. As it turned out, sessions overran and there was no time to debate the motion.
Nevertheless, it is also important that we avoid sensationalising political posturing by those opposed to peace, and instead focus on the vast majority of students who are keen to engage in thoughtful activity on Israel and Palestine. The overwhelming majority of the UK’s 120 plus higher education institutions have no BDS policy and there are no active academic boycotts of Israel in the UK.
Plenty of these institutions have active partnerships with Israeli universities. Just a few weeks ago, over 4,000 students demonstrated the sentiment of most mainstream UK students, with their participation in the pro-Israel Piece 2 Peace campaign.
Jewish students’ interactions with their non-Jewish peers and role within NUS are far more than battling over politics in the Middle East. Indeed, Jewish students were once again at the forefront of combating racism, spearheading motions to tackle antisemitism and Islamophobia, whilst also strengthening efforts to address the threat of the violent fascist group National Action.
Seeing UJS once again bringing Anthony Nolan to conference to bolster the numbers of ethnic minority people registered to donate bone marrow, together with the thousands of Jewish and non-Jewish students involved in positive interfaith work and Holocaust commemoration, serves as a powerful reminder that whatever the ups and downs with our fight rejecting the hate of the boycott movement, there is much to be hopeful about regarding Jewish students leading proud, diverse and positive lives with their peers on campuses across the UK.
Over the past year, we have taken two groups of student union or national union leaders to Auschwitz for the day on our Holocaust Education Programme. Interfaith activities throughout the country continue to thrive between J-Socs and many other faith groups, and backing for Jewish students who support Israel has been clear at Brunel University, from NUS vice-presidents, and from Labour Students.
While we are concerned about agitators perpetuating division within student politics, we are inspired by Jewish students’ activism and hopeful that our friends will continue to support our call for fair handling of Israel-Palestine, remain united in protecting minority students and fighting fascism, and maintain their involvement in a whole host of important interfaith activity.
