Minister warns of ‘systemic antisemitism’ in student union

Nadhim Zahawi, the United Kingdom’s education secretary, said he was worried by allegations of ‘systemic antisemitism’ within the National Union of Students (NUS), telling MPs that the government may sever links with the organisation unless it reforms, writes Richard Adams for The Guardian.

Zahawi’s intervention follows concerns raised by the Union of Jewish Students, including social media posts by the NUS’s incoming president Shaima Dallali that invoked an historic assault on Jews in the Middle East. Dallali apologised for the social media comments, telling the Guardian: “I’m not the same person I was. I have developed my political language to talk about Palestine and Israel. I stand by that apology.”

But, speaking to parliament’s education committee, Zahawi said: “I am deeply concerned about the NUS – it feels to me that there is systemic antisemitism, because this is not the first time, it’s the second time I think, they have elected a leader who has got a history of antisemitic comments and statements, so that does concern me.”
Full report on The Guardian site