The National Union of Students’ decision to boycott Israel has been condemned by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jewish leaders in Britain.
On Tuesday the NUS national executive committee (NEC) voted to boycott Israeli companies and affiliate to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement. The move represents the most significant anti-Israel measure taken by students in Britain since 2011, when the same committee pledged to send flotillas to Gaza.
NUS’s NEC refused to condemn Islamic State terrorists last September on the grounds that doing so could be considered Islamophobic.
Mr Netanyahu said on Wednesday: “IS tramples human rights to the dust. It burns people alive in cages — and the national student groups in Britain refuse to boycott IS and have boycotted Israel.”
The boycott motion was proposed by the School of Oriental and African Studies students’ union. It passed with 19 votes for, 14 against and one abstention, in a secret ballot.
The policy is not binding for student unions, but unless overturned it will remain NUS policy for three years.
Britain’s Deputy Ambassador to Israel, Rob Dixon, said: “As David Cameron has said, the UK government will never allow those who want to boycott Israel to shut down 60 years’ worth of vibrant exchange and partnership.”
Board of Deputies president Jonathan Arkush said: “NUS sees no inconsistency in failing to condemn IS because Muslim students told them it could cause Islamophobia, while boycotting Israel even when the Union of Jewish Students said that it will fuel antisemitism.”
Mr Arkush said the move would lead to questions about NUS’s credibility and said the union had “betrayed” British students and “shamed” the country.
Jewish Leadership Council chief executive Simon Johnson said the NEC was as an “out of touch, grandstanding” group. “This was the action of a tiny fringe of supposed representatives at a small meeting,” he said.
The Union of Jewish Students said it would seek to overturn the policy either through the NUS board of trustees or with a new motion at the next NEC meeting at the end of July.
UJS campaigns director Maggie Suissa said: “It is not going to have an immediate effect on student unions.
“But we cannot ignore the symbolic importance. Every time the debate comes up on campus they can refer to this. Now more than ever we must find our allies and fight against it.”
NUS president Toni Pearce refused to comment, but outgoing vice-president Joe Vinson said he had voted against the motion. “I think antisemitism arises from BDS policies and it is very important to listen to Jewish student voices.”
He said British campuses “desperately need” nuanced debate on the Middle East.
In 2011 the NEC pledged to send UK students on flotillas to Gaza, and last summer union members backed a bid to educate students about BDS.
Conservative MP for Brentwood and Ongar Sir Eric Pickles condemned the “deplorable” NUS boycott of Israel. Commenting on the announcement, Sir Eric said: “The decision of the National Union of Students to boycott Israel and promote the hardline BDS movement is utterly deplorable. This boycott is a major infringement on the right to free speech and threatens the extraordinary academic, scientific, business, and cultural cooperation between Britain and Israel.
"It also threatens British jobs. The infiltration of the anti-peace agenda of BDS on British campuses will create an unacceptable atmosphere of intimidation for Israeli and Jewish student in the UK. The British Government should condemn this absurd decision and reiterate its strong opposition to boycotts of a key democratic ally in an unstable region.”
Tory MP for Hendon Matthew Offord said the vote was "deplorable but also illogical". "Any proposal that seeks to support a movement which discriminates against academics and academic institutions based on their nationality rather than their personal or academic beliefs, runs contrary to the principles of academia – that of freedom of thought and the distribution of ideas. In fact, one could argue that Israeli academics have been some of the most prominent critics calling for change in Israel. It is therefore nonsensical that they are the target for an NUS boycott", he said.
