Mick Hartley

After that report from StandWithUs on antisemitism in UK universities, here's Baroness Deech in the Times:

The insidious spread of anti-Jewish racism at our supposedly world-renowned universities has spiralled out of control since Hamas’s October 7 atrocities. That it has become normalised and a source of social capital for some students brings shame upon our country.

The student testimonies in StandWithUs UK’s devastating new report offer a bleak insight into the experiences of Jewish students at the hands of their peers and even university staff, simply because of their faith of birth. The message they hear loud and clear — campuses should be a Jew-free space.

Activists think they’re being clever by rebranding their efforts as “anti-Zionism” and not — honest, sir — antisemitism. We must be unequivocal: so-called anti-Zionism is antisemitism. Proponents of this regressive ideology must ask themselves why they deem it legitimate to advocate that the Jewish people – uniquely in the world – have no right to self-determination. It’s an open and shut case of racism.

The videos of student activists failing to name the river and sea that they shout about endlessly in the genocidal “river to the sea” chant de rigueur may be a source of amusement, but it shows that much of this malady is also born of ignorance. The fact that the majority of Israel’s Jewish population is ethnically Mizrahi — which means that they are historically from the Middle East and North Africa — is conveniently forgotten. Following centuries of occupation of the land by competing colonial powers, Israel is, if anything, the world’s most successful story of decolonisation.

Despite the many appalling events in the world, it is only Israel that gets students and academics out of bed. China commits genocide against the Uighurs while Chinese students freely continue their studies in the UK. Of course, it is right and proper that these Chinese students, who are not responsible for their country’s actions, are able to enjoy the freedom the UK offers.

And that is the point. The UK’s beleaguered Jewish students are simply asking to be afforded the same freedom and protections available to all other students. They are left wondering why a zero-tolerance approach is not taken by their universities for all forms of racism, apart from antisemitism?

The recommendations made within StandWithUs UK’s report offer an important blueprint for the government to end this dangerous “new normal”. An independent inquiry is a worthy suggestion, but the truth is that consequences must be enforced.

Universities must acknowledge the link between anti-Zionism and antisemitism, as codified in the internationally accepted IHRA definition of antisemitism, that many of them have adopted and paid lip service to ever since. Crucially, the government must urgently enforce a zero-tolerance stance by establishing a system of escalating financial sanctions for non-compliant institutions.

Failure to do so not only threatens Jewish students but the integrity of universities as safe spaces for all.