Britain's National Students Union in Crisis
The United Kingdom's National Union of Students (NUS) is in crisis. Three major university student associations -- Newcastle, Lincoln and Hull -- have disaffiliated themselves from the organization, and more are set to follow. NUS is struggling even to retain its previous strongholds, such as Exeter's Student Association.
The Exeter University campaign to leave the NUS managed to increase the number of votes to defect from roughly 200 to 2546. This stampede occurred despite the massive protests by the "stay" campaign, including text messages to thousands of students and visits to the school by more than 10 senior NUS officials, including two Vice Presidents-elect and the President-elect. Why are students from so many British universities fighting to leave the NUS? Well, take for example statements by its new president-elect, Malia Bouattia. Bouattia actively promotes violence against Israel. She has argued that, "To consider that Palestine will be free only by means of fundraising, non-violent protest and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is problematic... Boycott can be misunderstood as the alternative to resistance by the Palestinian people."Presumably, then, Bouattia means that violent "resistance" against Israel is something she supports -- such as the theocratic group, Hamas, whose policies include preaching genocideagainst the Jews, or ISIS, who crucify children and also believe in murdering Jews.
Supporting terrorism against the only free state in the Middle East, according to Freedom House, is, and should be, deeply concerning. It is to the students' credit that they seek to distance themselves from Bouattia's views. Bouattia's role is meant to entail representing the best interests of students in the UK. How does endorsing and legitimizing terrorist attacks in Israel the best way to improve conditions for students in the UK? Is Bouattia trying to radicalise students in the UK? The more Bouattia legitimizes violence, the more students might decide that violent "resistance" is acceptable. Of course, statements such as Bouattia's also make Jewish students across the UK feel even more at risk, especially in the wake of rising anti-Semitism throughout the UK. Bouattia's remarks at a Middle East Monitor (MEMO) event included arguing that: "David Cameron and [Israeli PM] Netanyahu seem to be in competition over who can deliver the most over-the-top and outlandish sermons on the apparent existential threat their nation seems to be facing from these invisible 'terrorists."Invisible? Does Bouattia mean that Israel only imagines it is under threat from nations such as Iran, which is on the fast track to acquiring nuclear weapons and which repeats, "Death to Israel"? Or from Hamas, which threatens genocide not only to Israelis but to all Jews? Or from Hezbollah, a puppet of Iran, which has 100,000 missiles pointed at northern border of Israel, a country the size of New Jersey? Or from organizations that openly wish to destroy Israel? What about the terrorists who murdered Israel's athletes at the Munich Olympics, in 1972, or who murdered an elderly wheelchair-ridden Jew by throwing him overboard from a ship in 1985? What about the terrorists who spent years blowing up cafes, buses, discotheques -- and now the better part of a year in knifing Israeli Jews and car-ramming attacks? All, of course, are totally invisible. Bouattia also seems to have missed the nine attacks on Israeli military personnel and civilians in January 2016, and the 18 attacks in February 2016. A quick Google search of "list of Palestinian terror attacks" reveals 1,210,000 entries -- that is a lot of invisibility. It seems bizarre, therefore, that Bouattia would claim such violent terrorism does not exist. It also seems bizarre that she implies that there is no threat to the UK from terrorism. A quick Google search of "Terrorism incidents in the United Kingdom" lists 1,130,000 entries -- so evidently there is nothing to worry about. These include London's 7/7/2005 transport system attacks, which included among its victims students such as Atique Sharifi. It also seems odd to state that there is no threat to the UK from terrorism just as London is "preparing for up to 10 simultaneous terror attacks" in the wake of the Paris attacks of November 13, 2015. Subsequent arrests in Paris and Brussels revealed that attacks on central London landmarks such as the London Eye were also planned. Bouattia, it seems, has either concluded that either the organizations preaching anti-Jewish violence and trying to destroy Israel do not exist -- along with those targeting London -- or it would appear that she is she is simply not interested in facts. Bouattia also argued that "Muslims in the UK find themselves in a situation where their democratic freedoms have been comprehensively stripped." Really? Didn't London just elect a Muslim mayor, and isn't the Business Secretary a Muslim, and haven't there been Muslims in the cabinet and the House of Lords? Bouattia spoke at an event for the Middle East Monitor, MEMO, an organization which has claimed that Israelis are "pathological liars from Eastern Europe, who lie as much as they breathe oxygen." Wouldn't one think that appearing on the event platform of an organization that promotes negative national stereotypes is the exact opposite of what an "anti-racist" should be doing? Bouattia claims she has "always been a strong campaigner against racism and fascism in all its forms." MEMO's senior editor, Ibrahim Hewitt, also a Holocaust-denier -- he has referred to the "so-called Holocaust" -- claims that homosexuals would suffer "severe punishments" in an Islamic state for their "great sin." How should Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual (LGBT) students feel about their newly elected president sharing a platform with an organization whose editor calls for "severe punishments" against homosexuals? The NUS actually campaigns against homophobia and homophobic attitudes, with slogans such as "Zero tolerance to LGBT bullying." How does appearing at events organized by those who would like to see homosexuals "suffer" help to fight homophobia? On a final note, it is important to ask, what is the purpose of the NUS? According to the organization's official website, it is to "make a real difference to the lives of students and its member students' unions." Its successes include electing new Black student officers who "will help to make sure that issues such as racism, anonymous marking and a 'no platform policy against fascists and racists' remain high in the agenda of their students' unions." When students need representation, the voice often heard is that of the NUS, and that is often channelled through its president, Malia Bouattia. Is it any wonder that when this voice has a history of endorsing terrorism, including sharing platforms with convicted terrorists, that students may want a different voice? Robbie Travers, a political commentator and consultant, is Executive Director of Agora, former media manager at the Human Security Centre, and a law student at the University of Edinburgh.
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Showing posts with label Newcastle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Newcastle. Show all posts
Thursday, June 2, 2016
Israel Hate In Britain's Colleges. Will They Ever Want To Know The Truth
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
If You Think US Leaders Will Stand Up To Islamists And Others Who Hate Jews, Britain Is A Great Example Of Why It Will NOT Happen.
Anti-Semitism in Britain: "Sit Up and Take Notice"
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"There is a direct link between politicians saying things and people being emboldened to go and attack Jews." — Jonathan Arkush, Vice-President, UK Board of Deputies.A striking feature of the rising tide of anti-Semitism in Britain is the silence with which the country's leaders are choosing to respond to a growing climate of hatred and intimidation, directed not only at Jews themselves, but increasingly anything remotely Jewish.
It is never the person who commits these sorts of crimes that is held morally responsible by Britain's media or politicians. That honor is reserved for a nation over 2,000 miles away, Israel.
What if Christians objecting to the genocide being carried out by ISIS in Iraq, say, went around in mobs violently menacing Muslim businesses?
According to a report published in July by the Community Security Trust, a charity established to ensure the safety of the Jewish community in 1994, even though four out of every five anti-Semitic attacks usually take place "in the main Jewish centers of Greater London and Greater Manchester," violent assaults against Jews and symbols of Judaism are also now taking place nationwide.
Qaiser Malik, 19, and Balawal Sultan, 18, both from Newcastle, currently await trial for a racially motivated assault on a Rabbi on Saturday, July 19th. In Belfast, on the same Sabbath, Northern Ireland's only synagogue was attacked twice. And in England, much as in France, synagogues have been a particularly favored target of Jew-hatred. This trend extends from Liverpool in the north, where those attending temple were greeted with shouts of "baby killers," down to Brighton in the south.
After the murder of a British soldier by Islamists in Woolwich on May 22nd, 2013, strenuous efforts were made by police to protect the nation's mosques, and the chorus of political condemnation of attacks directed against Muslim houses of worship was immediate and unanimous. To describe the current response as mooted is an understatement.
Even in Scotland, where a 26 year-old shop worker named Jonathan McKean-Litewski was recently fired for refusing to remove his Star of David pendant, local Jewish representatives are so concerned by the rising level of anti-Semitism, that as a result, they have asked for an urgent meeting with the country's First Minister, Alex Salmond.
The reaction to these events, particularly in the press, has been puzzling to say the least. When following cases of Islamic terrorism in Britain or the mass gang-rape of children by Muslims, commentators have done their utmost rightly to stress that no faith community as a whole should ever be victimized for the actions of a few.
As Jonathan Arkush, the vice-president of the UK's Board of Deputies observes, "There is a direct link between politicians saying things and people being emboldened to go and attack Jews. There is this constant drumbeat of anti-Israeli agitation that is causing British Jews to be more worried, more insecure than at any time I have ever known."
Unsurprisingly, 63% of Britain's estimated 260,000 Jews now question their future in the country.
But with the Guardian, the BBC, the Independent and Reuters all firmly pinning the rise in anti-Semitic attacks in Britain on the recent Gaza conflict, it is worthwhile noting that although there has been an undeniably profound and distressing escalation in the unapologetic public expression of hatred for Jews this summer, the evidence points to something more disturbing.
In reality, the number of anti-Semitic incidents in Britain had already soared by 36% in the first six months of 2014, to its highest level for five years -- well before the IDF began Operation Protective Edge in response to daily missile attacks from the Gaza Strip.
It is almost as if the Jewish state's reaction to the launching of rockets by Hamas, from schools, near hospitals, and next to UN buildings, had somehow provided a convenient pretext for the further violent manifestation of an already pre-existing, growing, and deep-seated Jew-hatred in Britain.
Where could all this be coming from?
Those looking for an answer in the reports grabbing the country's headlines on the menacing incidents perpetrated last weekend, against shoppers in two major supermarket chains both originally founded by Jews, are likely to be disappointed.
In the first incident, 20 police officers were required to respond when a part of group of a hundred "Gaza protestors," who had descended on a Tesco in Birmingham, entered the store and began hurling products from the shelves.
One witness interviewed by the Daily Mail, who was just completing his trip to the store, describes at first hearing chanting, following which "a group of Asian men holding Palestinian flags came walking in and starting to push products over and getting aggressive with staff and shoppers. Police officers tried to stop them but I ran out."
As a policeman was assaulted in the ensuing fracas, you would expect that British politicians would roundly condemn such behaviour. You would be wrong. On the contrary, the likes of the Labour shadow cabinet member, Shabana Mahmood MP, have positively encouraged it.
Lauding her own success in a similar intimidation effort leading a crowd of 200, whose picket succeeded in closing down a Sainsbury's store in the same city for "five hours at peak time on a Saturday," Mahmood went on to recommend the power of, "practical action we can all take to make our government sit up and take notice," to an audience whooping its approval.
The video of the speech by Mahmood, Member of Parliament for Birmingham Ladywood, to a "mass rally for Gaza," in Hyde Park in London on August 9th, remains online.
The second incident directed against a supermarket at the weekend, although not nearly as violent, was however, considerably more troubling, and unmistakably religiously motivated.
Faced with a mob of "anti-Israel" demonstrators outside the Holborn branch of Sainsbury's in central London, the manager found himself intimidated into removing kosher meats, cheeses and sauces from display, even though the products were produced in Poland and Britain. The Daily Mail reported that one shopper said, "I presume you are also removing Halal food in protest against the Islamic State slaughtering Yazidis?"
Empty shelves in the kosher section of a Sainsbury's supermarket in London, after management removed the kosher products, August 16, 2014. When asked about the removal, a staff member stated "We support Free Gaza". (Image source: Facebook/C. Appleby)
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The incident at Sainsbury's led Brendan O'Neill, in the Daily Telegraph, to condemn "the rank unwillingness of influential people and institutions to face up to anti-Semitic sentiment" in the country. Sadly, he did so while demonstrating an equal unwillingness, to mention the subtle censorship faced by journalists like himself in Britain when it comes to stating the identity of those mainly exhibiting such sentiments.
In none of the reporting of these incidents, is the word "Muslim" ever mentioned.
It is never the person who actually commits these crimes that is held to be morally responsible for them, by either Britain's media or its politicians. That honor is instead almost universally reserved for a nation over 2,000 miles away, Israel.
Why it is exactly, that ordinary families in Britain going about their weekly shopping should find themselves the victims of such "practical action," as a result of the people of Gaza choosing to elect a party dedicated to the extermination of Jews, seems beside the point.
Surely it doesn't take much in the way of imagination, to guess just how instantaneous and uncompromising the reaction of Britain's politicians and press would be, if Christians objecting to the genocide being carried out by ISIS in Iraq, say, decided to go around in mobs violently menacing Muslim businesses?
Demanding the removal of halal food products, for example, to make the British government, "sit up and take notice" to use Mahmood's words.
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