Oxford anti-Semitism allegations highlight wider problem

“A large proportion of both Oxford University Labour Club (OULC) and the student left in Oxford more generally have some kind of problem with Jews”, says Alex Chalmers, who has resigned as Co-Chair of OULC this week.

Announcing this on Facebook, Chalmers claimed members of the club executive regularly used the term “Zio”, and that a former Co-Chair had said “most accusations of antisemitism are just the Zionists crying wolf”.

In addition, he said senior members of the society had expressed their “solidarity” with the proscribed terrorist group Hamas, “defending their tactics of indiscriminately murdering civilians”.

Since Chalmers’ resignation, other students have reported additional allegations to Oxford University Jewish Society, which have included
·         Claims several people, all of whom have been on the club committee, have been known to sing the song ‘Rockets over Tel Aviv’ and expressed support for indiscriminate attacks on civilians;


·         One member stating it was not anti-Semitic to allege the existence of a “New York – Tel Aviv axis” that rigs elections , and said “we should be aware of the influence wielded over elections by high net-worth Jewish individuals’;


·         One member, then on the club committee, stating all Jews should be expected topublically denounce Zionism and Israel, and that the club should not associate with any Jew who failed to do so;


·         One member of the club being formally disciplined by their College for organising a group of students to harass a Jewish student and to shout “filthy Zionist” whenever they saw her;


·         One member arguing on the club Facebook page that Hamas was justified in its policy of killing Jewish civilians and claiming all Jews were legitimate targets. This was defended by several other members, including two former co-chairs, as “a legitimate point clumsily expressed”.


While the scale of these allegations is shocking, here at Student Rights we have long argued that anti-Semitism is a serious problem on our campuses.
In the last year, we have logged a number of posts made to student Palestine Society Facebook pages which repeated anti-Semitic tropes, including comparing Israel to Nazi Germany. These have included University College London Friends of Palestine Society claiming Israel was “illegally harvesting organs” from the “bodies of murdered Palestinians”, and a post on the Glasgow University Palestine Society Facebook page saying “the mainstream media is owned by rabid Zionists”. In July 2014, meanwhile, Student Rights reported on post made to the King’s College London Action Palestine Society Facebook page which complained of British politicians being “on the Jewish payroll”

In addition, student social media pages have seen numerous inflammatory postings about attacks on Israelis by Palestinians in recent months.
In October, a post on a University of Cambridge Palestine Society page claimed a young woman had been shot by Israeli soldiers simply so they could remove her head scarf, while Glasgow University Palestine Society [url=http://www.studentrights.org.uk/userfiles/files/Glasgow PalSoc share video claiming Israelis putting pig intestines on wounded Palestinians 11_10_2015.png]shared a video[/url]purporting to show Israelis covering a dead Palestinian in pig intestines. These posts appeared at the same time as Palestine Societies at the University of Leeds and London School of Economics held vigils for terrorists killed carrying out attacks on civilians, includingAlaa Abu Jamaal, who drove his car into pedestrians before hacking a 60 year old Rabbi to death. Given the prevalence of such posts, it could be argued that Chalmers’ suggestion it is just the student left in Oxford that has a problem with Jews underestimates the issue. Until student societies face up to this and accept there has been a blurring of the boundaries between pro-Palestine activism and anti-Semitism on too many campuses, the problem will continue to exist, and universities must take serious disciplinary action against any students found to be sharing such material.

http://hurryupharry.org/2016/02/17/oxford-anti-semitism-allegations-highlight-wider-problem/

British Jews have expressed concern over campus anti-Semitism at Oxford following the resignation of the co-chair of the Labour party’s student group at the storied university, who claims that his peers had “some kind of problem with Jews.”

In a post on Facebook, Alex Chalmers explained that his decision was made in the light of the Oxford University Labour Club’s decision to endorse Israel Apartheid Week on campus, stating that “the attitudes of certain members of the club towards certain disadvantaged groups was becoming poisonous.”

“Whether it be members of the Executive throwing around the term 'Zio' (a term for Jews usually confined to websites run by the Ku Klux Klan) with casual abandon, senior members of the club expressing their 'solidarity' with Hamas and explitictly defending their tactics of indiscriminately murdering civilians, or a former Co-Chair claiming that 'most accusations of antisemitism are just the Zionists crying wolf’, a large proportion of both OULC and the student left in Oxford more generally have some kind of problem with Jews,” Chalmers lamented.

“The decision of the club to endorse a movement with a history of targetting and harassing Jewish students and inviting antisemitic speakers to campuses, despite the concerns of Jewish students, illustrates how uneven and insincere much of the active membership is when it comes to liberation.”

The use of such phrases are “anti-Semitism masquerading as politics” and are “abhorrent,” the Israeli embassy in London tweeted on Wednesday.

In a statement published by the Jewish Chronicle, Chalmers’ co-chair Noni Csogor said that while her former colleague was “right to highlight growing antisemitic violence in the UK,” and calling it “horrifying” that Jewish students feel unsafe, she felt that since “the Labour Party have always been against racism and oppression in all its forms; this must include the policies of the current Israeli government.”

The remaining leaders of the club will soon meet to discuss how to preserve the club as a “safe haven” for Jewish students and how to deal with statements such as mentioned by Chalmers, she said, adding that she looked forward to “contributing to an ongoing discussion about the complex intersection of justice for Palestine and the safety of Jewish students.”

She also condemned the “silencing of Jewish students,” such as occurred last month at Kings College when pro-Palestinian demonstrators disrupted a talk by former Shin Bet head Ami Ayalon.

During that incident, protesters became violent, smashing a window, setting off fire alarms and “a tirade of verbal abuse, inches from the faces of many Jewish students,” according to witnesses.

Jewish groups in Britain and around the world issued harsh condemnations of the student group and the spread of anti-Semitic attitudes in academia.

The Community Security Trust, a Jewish anti-Semitism watchdog, called for a “full and urgent” inquiry into the matter, calling out what it described as a “clear link between extreme hatred of Israel and the kind of antisemitic and pro-terrorist attitudes alleged by Oxford Jewish Society.”

"The stench of antisemitism now appears to have permeated the Oxford University Labour Club at my old university,” said Jonathan Arkush an Oxford alumnus and President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews.

"As we have often warned, this is in part a direct result of the anti-Israel bigotry, prevalent in the far left, and in part from the fact that Israel is used as a pretext for racism directed against Jews. The Labour Party and Oxford University must now take rigorous and credible measures to rid themselves of all antisemitic and racist elements.”

Britain’s Zionist Federation also called the Labour party to the carpet, stating that while virulent anti-Semitism used to be associated with “right wing thugs,” it now appears to be “almost de rigueur amongst left-wing intellectuals.”

“But the rot goes beyond a few bad apples – it’s not surprising that Labour students glorify Hamas when their own party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has described them as a social justice movement whilst inviting them to Parliament. The views and actions of these supposed socialists are now indistinguishable from those of fascists.”

Long seen as staunchly opposed to Israel, British Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn held his first meeting with the senior leadership of organized British Jewry a week ago in which he offered his support for a two-state solution in what appeared to be an effort to mend fences.

Corbyn’s replacement of Ed Miliband, who is Jewish, as the opposition party’s leader in September, worried supporters of the Jewish state who objected to his characterization of the Palestinian terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah as “friends” and his public defense of an Anglican minister who posted anti-Semitic conspiracy theories on-line.

The politician, who has also has publicly endorsed a blanket arms embargo on Israel and the boycott of Israeli universities involved in weapons research, had previously made waves in 2003 with the publication of an article claiming that Osama bin Laden was framed for 9/11.

Eighty nine percent of respondents in an online poll on the website of left-leaning newspaper The Independent stated that the left has “an anti-Semitism problem” on Wednesday.

According to the World Union of Jewish Students, it is clear that “anti-Semitism is on the rise worldwide but especially within far left spaces and that it is intrinsically linked to growing anti-Israel rhetoric on campuses.”

The group commended an investigation into the matter launched by the national organization of Labour Students and called upon the Oxford University Students’ Union to also look into the matter.


http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Labour-party-university-group-at-center-of-anti-Semitism-scandal-445265