Rishi: Campuses must be bastions of tolerance amid Gaza protests

RISHI Sunak has called for universities to remain “bastions of tolerance” amid fears for the safety of Jewish students.

He spoke as protesters at more than a dozen campuses across the UK have set up encampments against the war in Gaza.

The Prime Minister met vice chancellors from 17 universities at No10 yesterday and urged them to take a zero-tolerance approach to antisemitism.

Tensions

His spokesman said: “He called on universities to remain bastions of tolerance where debate takes place with respect for others and where every student feels safe.”

Tensions have continued to rise at US campuses and thousands of demonstrators have been arrested since protests began last month.

Ahead of yesterday’s meeting, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said: “We don’t want our campuses becoming unsafe environments for students or staff and going down the route that you see in other places like the US.”

When asked whether there is a fear that events in the US will be replicated in the UK, Ms Keegan said: “There’s always a fear of that. There is always a contagion fear, there are some groups encouraging this as well.”

Her comments came after more than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters gathered outside the Cambridge Union on Wednesday evening to protest against a talk by US billionaire tech tycoon Peter Thiel over his firm Palantir’s defence deals with Israel.

Jewish groups including the Union of Jewish Students attended yesterday’s summit. Its president Edward Isaacs said Jewish students have “faced a year like no other in terms of the volume of antisemitism on campus”.

He added: “The burden is now on vice-chancellors to ensure we don’t see scenes in the US replicated in the UK.

“We are seeing language emanating from these encampments and protest movements such as calls to globalise the intifada [uprising]. These are not meaningless political statements, these are direct calls for violence and they have no place on campus.”

Vice-chancellors leaving the event said talks were “positive” and “constructive”.