On another occasion, he wrote: “So lecturer asks the class today ‘nobody in this room would ever want to go to war right?’ My hand rises. ‘Who?’ Me: ‘Israel’.”
He also responded to a tweet by Piers Morgan, former editor of News of the World and the Daily Mirror, by calling him “a Zionist and corperate [sic] jackass”. Mr Morgan’s tweet had not been on the subject of Israel or Jews.
Josh Nagli, campaigns director of the Union of Jewish Students, said: “It is very worrying that someone seeking to be an NUS Vice President has previously expressed views that many Jewish students will find deeply antisemitic.
“The use of tropes that denote Jews as cheap or stingy is extremely offensive and, as made clear by various reports into antisemitism in the last year, it is completely unacceptable to use the word ‘Zionist’ as a term of abuse. It is disgraceful that this is now a common theme in the student movement.
“Jewish students will be rightly outraged when they see a candidate for a national position having used antisemitic tropes, many of which would be deemed antisemitic under the definition that NUS holds itself to”.
Mr Milani told the Tab university news site: “I have apologised unreservedly for these comments before and I do so again. They do not reflect how I see the world today.
“These tweets are from an incredibly long time ago – when I was 16 to 17 years old. It’s unacceptable, I know that now. Education taught me that.”
He also released a statement in which he said he had “previously, through an article in the Huffington Post and a video produced on my campaign page, forthrightly acknowledged and unreservedly apologised for the antisemitic language I once used.”
Mr Nagli said while Mr Milani’s apology was welcome, “this must be followed up by a willingness to engage with Jewish students.
“Otherwise, delegates to national conference should seriously question whether they should be voting for this candidate.”
Some NUS officials called for Mr Milani to withdraw from the election, which will take place at the NUS conference at the end of the month.
Vonnie Sandlan, president of NUS Scotland, told the Tab: "If Ali Milani was genuinely reflective of his antisemitism, he would immediately withdraw from this election and work with Jewish organisations to address his disgusting views."
Similarly, Tom Harwood, who is running for NUS president, said: "Describing 2013 as an incredibly long time ago simply isn't good enough.
"It's time that Ali considers his position as a candidate."
