In his ‘Farewell to the student world‘ blog in Jewish News, outgoing campaigns director of the Union of Jewish Students (UJS), Russell Langer, takes a parting shot at the Malia Bouattia-led NUS. He criticises her rhetoric that included “hinting that having a large J-Soc was problematic, and repeated references to the influence of Zionist lobbies.” In the lead up to her election in April, an open letter signed by over 50 JSoc presidents accused her of antisemitism. Langer adds that,
The 2014/15 NUS National Executive Council (NEC) were so obsessed with hating Israel that it passed two boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) policies within a year and their successors even attempted to boycott Coca Cola. When these incidents happened in the past, Jewish student activists could rely on the leadership to properly condemn it but the Jewish students who were with me at this year’s conference watched the majority of delegates vote for a president who still hadn’t fully addressed the concerns of Jewish students.
[…] When those on NEC choose to play the politics of division by importing foreign conflicts onto our campuses and blaming what they see as anti-Muslim policies on ‘Zionist lobbies’, NUS is failing all students.
The ex-UJS campaigns director complains about the importation of “foreign conflicts onto our campuses,” but UK Jewish Societies make major efforts to promote Israel on those same campuses, working closely with the Israeli state.
On Tuesday, Jewish News reported that “in the wake of a Jewish society campaign led by high-profile groups and individuals including the Israeli embassy and Jonathan Turner, the chair of UK Lawyers for Israel,” the UCL Board of Trustees decided that the resolutions and mandates of its BDS motion passed on 8 March “cannot be legally implemented.”
Speaking to the Jewish News, Adam Schapira, the former President of UCL Jewish Society, said that he ‘expects to see this motion entirely removed from UCLU’s record’. He blasted UCLU’s actions in passing the motion as a ‘serious failure’ – but billed their latest announcement part of a ‘significant wave of success’ in overturning BDS legislation.
STATEMENT REGARDING BDS AT UCLU:
We are delighted that the Board of Trustees have overturned this insidious BDS… https://t.co/hiRRHonHXK
— UCL Jewish Society (@UCL_JSoc) June 13, 2016
In the updated motion the inoperable parts have been crossed out. They include the resolution to “raise awareness of the Palestinian suffering amongst our students explaining the union stance,” and “to work with students to publish a report on academic, corporate and economic links between the university and companies or institutions that participate in or are complicit in Israeli violations of international law.”
With the departure of Langer, Liron Velleman is the new Campaigns Officer of UJS. Velleman is also Youth & Students Officer of the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM), and recently referred to non-Zionist Jews as “contrary” imposters. JLM is an affiliate both of the Israeli Labour Party which in office has promoted the building of settlements in the occupied Palestinian Territories, and the World Zionist Organization, which has channelled funds to the illegal settlements. As veteran human rights campaigner Diana Neslen noted last month, some Labour MPs that are members of JLM “are not only dissatisfied with the witch hunt that they have unleashed in the Labour party, but are also in league with a foreign political party whose ethos is distinctly racist.”
Ben White observed in ‘Israel’s friends at Westminster ‘hijack’ foreign aid debate,’ that Labour MPs Joan Ryan and Ian Austin, as well as Tory MPs Andrew Percy, Eric Pickles, and Matthew Offord used Monday’s debate to attack the Palestinian Authority (PA) and smear Israeli human rights groups. Offord echoed “the talking points of Israel’s extreme-right,” by claiming that “some of those NGOs engage in activities that undermine peace efforts and increase tensions, and a number are heavily involved in ‘lawfare’ and the so-called Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.”
White adds that Offord’s source would appear to be NGO Monitor. Gerald Steinberg, the head of NGO Monitor, has worked as a consultant to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, and recently appeared at an Israeli government-sponsored conference in order to denigrate respected groups such as Oxfam and Human Rights Watch.
Campus JSocs use the same tactics as professional Israel lobbyists in our parliament. It is hypocritical for them to call out supporters of Palestinian Rights for “importing foreign conflicts onto our campuses;” JSocs see electing pro-Israel candidates to NUS leadership positions as unexceptional but cry foul if anyone critical of Israel is elected – they seem to believe election processes are fair and democratic only if they are winning. They were content with a president who continually failed to address the concerns of Palestinian students. They see no problem in enlisting the Israeli embassy to overturn a democratic decision of a student union while accusing Palestinian rights activists, but complain about external influence when it comes from their critics. These are double standards but those who point them out are falsely castigated as antisemites.
