Jewish students tell NUS of concerns after Malia Bouattia election

National Union of Students officers have held talks with representatives with campus Jewish students in a bid to address concerns in the wake of the election of Malia Bouattia as NUS president.

Ms Bouattia, who was elected last month, has been criticised for her past comments, including describing Birmingham University as a “Zionist outpost”, and referring to “Zionist-led media” in a speech.

This week student unions at Lincoln University and Newcastle University voted to disaffiliate from the NUS.

NUS LGBT officer Rob Young and vice-president union development Richard Brooks visited JSocs in Bristol, Birmingham, Nottingham and Leeds.

He said: “I wanted to hear first-hand the concerns of Jewish students.”

“I learned that Jewish students for a long time have felt that antisemitism in rife in our movement and it’s not just exclusive to us. I learned that there are so many structural issues with the way that Jewish students are represented and how they can give their opinions without facing discrimination.”

He pledged to “conduct research into the experiences of Jewish students in our Universities, colleges and students unions across the UK.”

The meetings were the held at the initiative of the Union of Jewish Students. UJS campaigns development officer Josh Nagli said: “Based on the frustrations and anger from Jewish students after the events of the last few weeks, we thought it would be a good idea to get UJS and NUS to address their concerns.”

Mr Nagli, who attended the meetings in Birmingham and Nottingham, added that students took the opportunity to raise general concerns about the national union.

“There are a proportion of people who have been involved in the student political world who feel they should stay to have a voice. But some feel quite disenfranchised,” said Mr Nagli.

At Oxford and Cambridge Universities, the JSocs have announced official support for their respective disaffiliation campaigns.

More than 24 student unions are reportedly considering cutting ties with the NUS.