Antisemitism has ‘become normalised’ on UK campuses, says Union of Jewish Students | Antisemitism
One in five students would be reluctant to share flats with a Jewish student or would never do so, according to a survey by the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) which found that antisemitism had become “normalised” on UK campuses.
UJS’s survey of 1,000 students “of all faiths and no faith” found that almost a quarter (23%) had seen behavior targeting Jewish students because of their religion or ethnicity, and almost half (47%) had witnessed Hamas justifying the October 7 attacks.
Half (49%) of students surveyed said they had heard slogans or chants glorifying Hamas, Hezbollah or other banned groups, and 65% said their studies had been disrupted by the protests.
The report, Time for Change, states that Jewish students also face increasing social exclusion. “In one case, an apartment of non-Jewish students posted on social media that they had ‘one rule: no Zio in the apartment,’” the report said.
One in four survey respondents (26%) said they knew or had personally experienced friendships with Jewish students becoming increasingly distant or strained. Meanwhile, some of the 10,000 Jewish students in the UK testified that they were chased home, threatened, verbally abused and physically attacked.
The report also flagged “indifference” to antisemitism. A quarter (25%) of those surveyed said they did not care much or at all about students being able to be open about their Jewish identity on campus. Of those who witnessed antisemitism, 20 percent objected directly, 22 percent reported it to the student union, and 23 percent reported it to the university.
“Jewish students face direct threats, verbal and physical abuse, and are isolated by their peers because of their assumed views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” the UJS report said. “Ignorance about Jewish people is ingrained in campus culture, and little is being done to address it.”
Karen Newman, deputy chair of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said the report made sickening reading. “Jewish students should not have to worry that a fifth of their peers cannot live with them because they are Jewish, or about the prevalence of support for banned terrorist groups.”
A spokesman for Universities UK (UUK), the collective voice of 142 universities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, said: “We work hard with the leaders of our universities and the UJS, the Community Safety Trust and the Jewish Chaplaincy service to tackle antisemitism and support university leaders to take action to prevent it and respond appropriately when it occurs.”
In the report’s foreword, Labor Party member and former MP Luciana Berger said Jewish students’ experiences today mirrored those of 20 years ago, which led her to resign from the national executive committee of the National Union of Students.
“Jewish students continue to be attacked by the same people year after year. What will British campuses be like for Jewish students when my own children, currently only six and eight, reach university age?”
Author and journalist Daniel Finkelstein said: “Bullying people because of their ethnicity, history, or political views is completely unacceptable, and a university administration that ignores such bullying is not doing its duty.”
Earlier this month the government announced increased support for universities to combat extremism and intimidation, including plans for a campus cohesion charter to strengthen respect and shared values throughout university life.
The Office for Students, the regulator of higher education in England, said it would take action if universities failed to protect students from harassment or intimidation, with the power to sanction or de-register institutions that fail to comply with registration conditions.
The UJS survey was conducted by JL Partners and surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1,000 UK university students from 170 higher education institutions, weighted to reflect the demographic profile of the student population.
