wwk – Everyday Antisemitism

Yesterday a History student found anti-Semitic comments on a book while researching for an essay in the Library of the University of Warwick.

The authors of the comments discriminatorily singled out every person quoted on the book that were Jewish or had a Jewish name.

Actions are being taken by the University of Warwick and the Library.

The Jewish Israeli Society commented “We’re feeling really frustrated because we understand that it’s very hard for the library to find out who did this but at the same we don’t want to let it go”. They said that they had expected things to calm down after the polemic around Aysegul Gurbuz, a Warwick student that was accused of anti-Semitism after tweets being posted on her Twitter account. They added that they felt stuck and that their voice didn’t seem to be heard.

This week, hundreds of students from British universities, signed a letter questioning statements made by Malia Bouattia, a candidate for the presidency of the National Union of Students in the UK.

Bouattia has referred to Birmingham University as a “Zionist outpost” and referred to the fact that it has the “largest [Jewish Society] in the country” when describing the challenges she was facing at the time. These views have offended Jewish students and divided the national student body. For Jewish students, the prospect of the President of the National Union of Students (NUS) holding such views about Jewish students is quite obviously disconcerting. Should a person who uses such rhetoric become the President of NUS, it is likely that this would create a deep rift between NUS and Jewish students.

Just recently, Bouattia explained at an event at SOAS that the government’s Prevent counter-extremism strategy is the product of a so called “Zionist lobby”.

Bouattia’s response to the letter denounced the allegations as “false”. The President of Birmingham’s Jewish Society has answered.