Manchester student union objects to Jewish students request for union to not glorify terrorism

The university said student union motions are independent of the administration and it is not obligated to implement them.

Many of the non-Jewish students at the union meeting where the original motion was proposed were masked and wore keffiyehs to conceal their identities. When a Jewish student voiced their concern to a meeting organiser that the masks and keffiyehs were creating a “hostile and unwelcoming” environment, the organiser declined to request that they be removed or to take any action at all.

A list of amendments to Manchester University student union's 'Solidarity with Palestine' motion - all of which were rejected[Missing Credit]A list of amendments to Manchester University student union's 'Solidarity with Palestine' motion - all of which were rejected[Missing Credit]

A Jewish student present for the meeting said they were “shocked” when the majority of the union objected to every single motion they put forward. In response, some Jewish students held a silent protest outside the building where the meeting took place, holding pictures of Ariel and Kfir Bibas with the words “murdered by armed resistance”.

Manchester University students hold images of the Bibas children[Missing Credit]

The 2000-word “Solidarity with Palestine” motion, which was proposed last year by a student from the university’s Friends of Palestine group is now under consideration by the SU and will now undergo a 7-day period of voting by students. The document fails to mention Hamas even once but quotes numerous figures provided by the terrorist group.

Manchester University student union members wear masks and keffiyehs while it deliberates a motion on 'Solidarity with Palestine'[Missing Credit]

The motion also accuses Israel “in its entirety” of being “an apartheid settler-colonial state committing ongoing genocide against Palestinians.”

It recognises “as an occupied nation, the people of Palestine have the right to armed resistance under international law.”

“On the other hand,” the motion reads, “the right to national self-defence does not extend to occupying nations in the land they are occupying.”

It argues that a two-state solution has become “impossible” due to the “continued expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine” and advocates for a “single, free, multi-faith Palestinian state”.

In December last year, Manchester University student union adopted a BDS motion with upwards of 90 per cent of students voting in favour.
In a statement, Manchester Student Union said: “Staff members met with concerned students prior to the Union Assembly to make the event feel as safe as possible during deliberations. The SU met with the president of the Friends of Israel society and reps from UJS to chat about the wording of the policy, what it does and doesn’t mean practically if it was to be passed, what support would be in place for Jewish students at the event as well as signposting to additional support services. This meeting was also offered to our other Jewish student groups on campus.
”All safety measures were reiterated during the Union Assembly itself to foster a safe deliberation space. One of the staff members present at this meeting, one of our designated safeguarding leads, attended the Union Assembly as reassurance for these students. Whilst the concern about clothing items was raised with a staff member, there is not anything we can do outside of passing on the concern.”