The Union of Jewish Students met the president of the National Union of Students 10 days ago, it has emerged.
Malia Bouattia and UJS officials met on Friday October 28, in what was described as a “constructive meeting” by a UJS spokesperson.
Ms Bouattia has previously been heavily criticised by the UJS for her past comments; she referred to the University of Birmingham as "something of a Zionist outpost" and elsewhere talked about "mainstream Zionist-led media outlets"
The UJS and Ms Bouattia previously met in April, just after her election as NUS president. However, UJS officials were upset when she subsequently wrote about that meeting – which they had believed was a private one - in an article for the Guardian.
Details of last month’s meeting emerged today after the JC made contact with UJS, and the union issued a press release.
At the meeting, UJS representatives discussed “the concerns that many Jewish students have raised prior to and since her election about her past comments, as well as her failure to address these concerns.
“That said, we maintain our commitment to not working with the national president until she issues an apology to Jewish students and demonstrates a genuine willingness to listen to their concerns and work towards addressing them.”
The spokesperson also confirmed that much would depend on next month’s UJS conference, where delegates will have the opportunity to debate the organisation’s relationship with the NUS.
“The decision taken will determine UJS's next steps in how it chooses to engage with NUS and what any future relationship between the two organisation looks like”, the spokesperson said.
In its press release, UJS denied the meeting was "secret", and explained it wanted to avoid publicity so as not to put further discussions at risk.
"The fact that a meeting was to take place between UJS and the current NUS president had been in the public domain for weeks", it said.
"Both parties decided that in the interests of a frank and forthright conversation, where the many ongoing concerns of Jewish students could be put directly to the NUS president, further publicity around this meeting would come after this initial round of discussions had been concluded – which as of this evening they have not."
