UK: Outrage as Jewish students at SOAS told they can’t define anti-Semitism

Via Jewish News:

Jewish students’ campaign to define what they find “anti-Semitic” hit a brick wall at a Union General Meeting at SOAS University in London this week, with Jewish representatives blasting the “outrageous” comments made.

SOAS Students’ Union, which supports a boycott of Israel, debated the ‘Jewish Equality Act,’ a motion proposed by economics undergraduate Avrahum Sanger, one of less than 40 Jewish students at the university.

His requests were mainly met, such as kosher sandwiches in cafes, easier access to multi-faith prayers rooms and rescheduled activities around Shabbat and Jewish holiday. However the Union took issue exception to his additional request that Jewish students be able to define what is anti-Semitic.

The clause in question read: “Jewish students should be given the right to self-determination and be able to define what constitutes hatred against their group, like all other minority groups.”

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Elsewhere, during another debate about the invitation of speakers to campus, one student singled out any “organisation that has any affiliation or any links to a Zionist or Netanyahu or to a Zionist ideology,” adding: “There will not be any tolerance of such organisations to host an event or speak on any topic regardless.”

UJS campaigns manager Josh Nagli said: “The disgraceful comments regarding Zionist speakers will bring back dreadful memories of Jewish students’ experiences on campus in the 1970s when the banning of Zionist speakers led to Jewish Societies being banned.”

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