Jewish Backers Trash Anti-Semitic Charge Against British Student Leader

Malia Bouattia

By Josefin Dolsten April 28, 2016

Claims that the new head of the British national student union is anti-Semitic are false and part of a “witch-hunt” and “Islamophobic campaign,” Jewish former student leaders wrote in a letter supporting Malia Bouattia.

Bouattia, who is Muslim, was elected president of the National Union of Students last week but has faced criticism from some who said her anti-Israel activism includes anti-Jewish rhetoric.

The letter to the UK’s Jewish Chronicle said such criticism was part of a series of “a wider narrative” of “racist attacks” against other Muslim leaders.

“It is a narrative that as Jews we should oppose without qualification,” the letter, whose 10 signatories include three former national executive members of the student union, said of such campaigns, accusing them of conflating “opposition to Israel with anti-Jewish prejudice.”

The letter praised Bouattia as having an “outstanding and principled record as an anti-racist activist and NUS Black Students Officer,” and said she had spoken at a pro-refugee event that had included a banner opposing anti-Semitism, along with other forms of prejudice.

The letter was in response to an opinion piece published by the Jewish Chronicle, which was highly critical of Bouattia and called her “a symbolic of the poison of the regressive Left.”

Other British Jews have expressed concern about Bouattia’s appointment.

“Many Jewish students have not been satisfied with Malia’s response so far to the concerns raised by Jewish students over the last few weeks,” the Union of Jewish Students said in a statement following her election.

Prior to Bouattia’s election, more than 50 leaders of Jewish societies at British universities called her out on a controversial blog post she co-authored in 2011. In the post, Bouattia called The University of Birmingham “something of a Zionist outpost in British Higher Education,” adding that the campus “also has the largest JSoc [Jewish Society] in the country whose leadership is dominated by Zionist activists.”

“Our question for you is clear: why do you see a large Jewish Society as a problem?” the Jewish leaders asked Bouattia in their letter.

In response, Bouattia said that her criticism of Israel should not be misconstrued as anti-Semitism and that she does not see large Jewish campus groups as a problem.

Josefin Dolsten is a New York-based writer who has reported for the Forward, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Times of Israel and other Jewish publications. She currently works as an account director at Fenton Communications, supporting organizations that work to advance racial justice, LGBTQ+ equality, reproductive rights and more. Dolsten earned her B.A. in government from Cornell University and her M.A. in comparative religion and Jewish studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO