Sunak hits out at ‘ extremists’
RISHI SUNAK has condemned “extremists at the National Union of Students ( NUS)” who he says opposed the Union of Jewish Students’ ( UJS) support for “the principle of a Jewish state”.
Ahead of a meeting with the UJS and Jewish charity the Community Security Trust ( CST) to “listen and learn from their experiences” yesterday, the Prime Minister warned of “students and academic staff being targeted, threatened, and assaulted simply for being Jewish”.
Writing for The Times, he said: “Only last month, the UJS were themselves subject to a shameful attempt to get their organisation kicked out of the NUS purely because of their support for the principle of a Jewish state.”
He dubbed such opposition to the UJS as the work of “extremists at the NUS”.
Mr Sunak was hosting a meeting at Downing Street with vicechancellors from leading British universities, with talks designed to “keep Jewish students safe” on campus.
Mr Sunak wrote: “I understand the strength of feeling over recent events in Israel and Gaza. No- one is saying that students should not be able to express the very human angst that many of us feel about the terrible suffering of war.
“We will always protect freedom of speech and the right to protest – and our universities are a natural place for that expression, precisely because they are institutions of learning and exploration where challenging ideas are debated rigorously.
“But just as importantly, universities have a profound duty to remain bastions of tolerance, where such debate takes place with respect for others – and where every student feels safe and at home, whatever their faith or background.”
Mr Sunak’s comments come in the wake of calls from the Education Secretary, who has said universities must “crack down” on antisemitic abuse on campuses and ensure protests do not disrupt university life.
Ministers will call on university leaders to take immediate disciplinary action if any student is found to be inciting racial hatred or violence and to contact the police if a criminal act has been committed.
Pro- Palestine encampments have been set up by students at more than a dozen universities across the UK against the war in Gaza, including Cambridge and Oxford.