Nadhim Zahawi has implored all British universities to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism at an event at Google's London HQ. The Secretary of State for education made the comments when speaking at a panel dsicussion with the president of Tel Aviv university Ariel Porat.
The two discussed how the pandemic had affected education and how those in the sector can come out of the pandemic.
Mr. Zahawi, previously the minister responsible for vaccine rollout, paid tribute to those who continued to work throughout the pandemic including nurses, doctors and teachers and who he said "kept society going."
The Secretary of State also spoke about antisemitism within universities, saying:"I am really pleased that the IHRA definition of antisemitism has been adopted by so many universities — but I want them all to adopt it. It’s not just a document that you hang on a wall in a university president’s office. They have to think about how they deal with it, and how they make sure that university campuses are safe places for Jewish students, for Jewish lecturers, for the whole of the community. Education, in my view, is the vaccine against antisemitism, which is why I make it my mission to deal with this scourge, that I think is truly evil”.
Mr Zahawi also spoke of his visit to Auschwitz last month saying 'no film reel will ever do it justice.' He also said that everyone should visit the museum of Europe's most famous deathcamp.
He said: It was life-changing for me. The real, hard-to-describe part is Auschwitz 2, where Hitler decided to scale up, industrialise the extermination of the Jewish people. It’s beyond belief."
The event at Google's Kings Cross HQ