28.04.2022

PALESTINIAN SOCIETIES STATEMENT ON NUS

SUMMARY VERSION

We write this statement to articulate our outrage at the NUS’s recent decision to call for an investigation of Shaima Dallali, the democratically elected next NUS President.

We reject the smear campaign and harassment of Shaima Dallali and wish to make it clear that Shaima, as a dedicated and committed anti-racist organiser, has our full confidence to fulfil her duties as NUS President. To continue with this investigation into a President who has continuously been outspoken on Israeli Apartheid is a direct decision to exclude those who stand for justice in Palestine and to ignore the grave concerns that Shaima Dallali has over her own personal safety and wellbeing.

An NUS that cannot protect its own President from the external pressures of groups who openly side with Apartheid is an NUS that has failed those who it seeks to represent.

To follow this course of action following the letters written by UJS and a select few ex-NUS Presidents sets a deeply troubling precedent.

To the statement written by UJS, it should go without saying that a letter, which since its online publication, has been disputed on the grounds of forged signatures and a false claim to represent the entirety of the Jewish student community, should not form the foundation of any further action before these issues are resolved. Beyond this, the hypocrisy for UJS to call for inclusion in NUS while maintaining support for the Apartheid State of Israel, that continues to oppress Palestinians through a myriad of political, economic, and military means, is truly astounding. Quite simply, the UJS’ position to promote Zionism and claim to oppose racism is an untenable stance. The UJS cannot point to the NUS “as an organisation with a history of anti-racism” while advocating for support of an Apartheid state through Islamophobic and orientalist publications such as ‘Jenin - a City of Terror’, posted just this month.

We reiterate that the liberation of Palestine is not at odds with the safety of Jewish students in the UK. And consequently, to exclude our ‘confidence’ from an investigation initiated primarily due to Shaima’s commitment to solidarity with Palestine risks aggravating the levels of division that are being deeply sown by pro-Apartheid and Zionist groups.

At the head of all our concerns is the precedent being set to instigate investigations into individuals under the guise of anti-racist principles following pressure from racist organisations.

NUS is an organisation which prides itself on care and considering the welfare of its students. However, the decision to accept an investigation can only be viewed as a carceral response to students who are being policed for comments made over a decade ago. Comments, it must be noted, that Shaima has already publicly apologised for, and additionally, offered to speak to UJS about. Yet, without any stated reason UJS decided to ignore such opportunities for dialogue and have instead adopted an attitude that holds Shaima to a level of accountability that they do not even hold for themselves.

Investigations launched across UK universities against students and academics have intensified a culture of surveillance, which combined with the expansive presence of the Prevent agenda within education, seeks to silence our voices against global injustices. In the past year alone, we have witnessed MPs in Parliament threaten students with legal proceedings for organising against speakers that have had a direct role in facilitating settlements in occupied territories, former Prime Ministers groups resisting Prevent as ‘Islamists’, and public calls to make BDS illegal.

Yet, the NUS has been routinely silent when students have most needed support from institutions that claim to stand for equality, freedom of speech and anti-racism. This has directly contributed to an environment that leaves students increasingly vulnerable to the carceral and defamatory allegations that facilitate divisive politics and do not care for students' wellbeing.

The reality that we are forced into organising our own welfare support for students such as Shaima, is indicative of just how disconnected our Student Union bodies are from understanding the experiences of those who stand up for anti-racism and decolonisation.

We have ultimately lost faith in the NUS’ ability to protect students who stand against Israeli Apartheid and believe that as students, we must seriously consider how realistic it is to understand the NUS as our supposed political home.

We believe firmly in tackling all forms of discrimination and racism through a united front and call all student societies to support us in challenging an increased dependence on a culture of investigations and surveillance.

Just as we will unapologetically continue to call for the freedom of Palestine, we call for student societies to join us in demanding the NUS to immediately drop their investigation.

Long Live Palestine.

Click here if you want your society to sign and support this statement.

FULL VERSION

We write this statement to articulate our outrage at the NUS’s recent decision to call for an investigation of Shaima Dallali, the democratically elected next NUS President.

We reject the smear campaign and harassment of Shaima Dallali and wish to make it clear that Shaima, as a dedicated and committed anti-racist organiser, has our full confidence to fulfil her duties as NUS President. To continue with this investigation into a President who has continuously been outspoken on Israeli Apartheid is a direct decision to exclude those who stand for justice in Palestine and to ignore the grave concerns that Shaima Dallali has over her own personal safety and wellbeing.

An NUS that cannot protect its own President from the external pressures of groups who openly side with Apartheid is an NUS that has failed those who it seeks to represent.

To follow this course of action following the letters written by UJS and a select few ex-NUS Presidents sets a deeply troubling precedent.

There is no reason for the letter signed by ex-NUS Presidents to ever be considered in any of NUS' actions. Their collective call for an independent investigation into Shaima Dallali is a blatant interference with the NUS’ democratic and internal processes. As members of the current student body, we deserve clarity over the role that unaccountable former Presidents of NUS hold over the processes we have come to rely on for exercising our student voice. This threat to student democracy is coupled with an all-too-obvious appropriation of anti-racist language. We are deeply disturbed that the title of ‘former NUS President’ is being used to mask over the problematic political profiles of certain signatories as exemplified by Trevor Phillips’ history of Islamophobia and Shakira Martin’s UJS-sponsored trip to the Apartheid State of Israel. We must question why the letter is only signed by a select few Presidents and significantly, why an anti-Zionist Jewish NUS President was not even consulted in its creation. In all, it is evident that this was a letter motivated by alternative political motivations and not a genuine concern for students who face discrimination

To the statement written by UJS, it should go without saying that a letter, which since its online publication, has been disputed on the grounds of forged signatures and a false claim to represent the entirety of the whole Jewish student community, should not form the foundation of any further action before these issues are resolved. Beyond this, the hypocrisy for UJS to call for inclusion in NUS while maintaining support for the Apartheid State of Israel, that continues to oppress Palestinians through a myriad of political, economic, and military means, is truly astounding. Quite simply, the UJS’ position to promote Zionism and claim to oppose racism is an untenable stance. The UJS cannot point to the NUS “as an organisation with a history of anti-racism” while advocating for support of an Apartheid state through Islamophobic and orientalist publications such as ‘Jenin - a City of Terror’, posted just this month.

We also fundamentally take issue with NUS' response to investigate on the premise that “whoever is appointed must have the confidence of Jewish students”. Jewish Students Against Antisemitism is one example of a collective who directly disrupt UJS’ claim to represent all the Jewish student community. Their statement speaks against the isolation of anti and non-Zionist Jewish students from UJS as well as the tactic to pursue a smear campaign against Shaima.

We reiterate that the liberation of Palestine is not at odds with the safety of Jewish students in the UK. And consequently, to exclude our ‘confidence’ from an investigation initiated primarily due to Shaima’s commitment to solidarity with Palestine risks aggravating the levels of division that are being deeply sown by pro-Apartheid and Zionist groups.

At the head of all our concerns is the precedent being set to instigate investigations into individuals under the guise of anti-racist principles following pressure from racist organisations.

NUS is an organisation which prides itself on care and considering the welfare of its students. However, the decision to accept an investigation can only be viewed as a carceral response to students who are being policed for comments made over a decade ago. Comments, it must be noted that Shaima has already publicly apologised for, and additionally, offered to speak to UJS about. Yet, without any stated reason UJS decided to ignore such opportunities for dialogue and have instead adopted an attitude that holds Shaima to a level of accountability that they do not even hold for themselves.

We additionally reject the use of the IHRA definition of antisemitism in any investigation. The IHRA definition is deeply problematic. It conflates Zionism with Judaism, and purposefully, suppresses any condemnation of Israeli Apartheid or an ability for Palestinians to even speak on their own experiences without being falsely labelled as racist. Investigations launched across UK universities against students and academics have intensified a culture of surveillance, which combined with the expansive presence of the Prevent agenda within education, seeks to silence our voices against global injustices. In the past year alone, we have witnessed MPs in Parliament threaten students with legal proceedings for organising against speakers that have had a direct role in facilitating settlements in occupied territories, former Prime Ministers groups resisting Prevent as ‘Islamists’ and public calls to make BDS illegal.

Yet, the NUS has been routinely silent when students have most needed support from institutions that claim to stand for equality, freedom of speech and anti-racism. This has directly contributed to an environment that leaves students increasingly vulnerable to the carceral and defamatory allegations that facilitate divisive politics and do not care for students' wellbeing.

It is for this reason that the decision to investigate Shaima Dallali must be contextualised within the broader attempts to suppress speech about Palestine on campus in particular. We have been demonised for protesting racist Israeli ambassador visits to our campus and opposing investments made into arms companies that facilitate war crimes in Israel, attacked by right-wing apartheid groups such Stand with Us UK and been forced to respond to false allegations of antisemitism led by third party groups such as UK Lawyers for Israel - as the case of Shahd Abusalama recently showed. This repeated NUS failure to openly resist false claims of antisemitism which have disproportionately targeted black and brown students indicates how far detached the NUS is from its radical roots and the very principles it claims to uphold.

It is abundantly clear that the NUS’ choice to include “decolonisation education” on their homepage is no more than a misleading aesthetic that reflects the practice of a sloganised politics devoid of any substantial support of those on the frontlines of resisting settler colonialism in Israel. The reality that we are forced into organising our own welfare support for students such as Shaima, is indicative of just how disconnected our Student Union bodies are from understanding the experiences of those who stand up for anti-racism and decolonisation.

We have ultimately lost faith in the NUS’ ability to protect students who stand against Israeli Apartheid and believe that as students, we must seriously consider how realistic it is to understand the NUS as our supposed political home.

We believe firmly in tackling all forms of discrimination and racism through a united front and call all student societies to support us in challenging an increased dependence on a culture of investigations and surveillance.

Just as we will unapologetically continue to call for the freedom of Palestine, we call for student societies to join us in demanding the NUS to immediately drop their investigation.

Long Live Palestine.

Click here if you want your society to sign and support this statement.

PALESTINE SOCIETIES

 Brunel Students for Justice in Palestine

Brunel University London

City Friends of Palestine

City University of London

Goldsmiths for Palestine

Goldsmiths University

KCL Students for Justice in Palestine

King’s College London

Lancaster Friends of Palestine

Lancaster University

Liverpool Palestine Society

Liverpool John Moore’s University

LSE SU Palestine Society

London School of Economics

LSE for Palestine

London School of Economics

Manchester Met Students for

Justice in Palestine

Manchester Metropolitan University

Queen Mary Friends of Palestine

Queen Mary University London

Sheffield Hallam Palestine Society

Sheffield Hallam University

SOAS Palestine Society

SOAS

UoB Students for Justice in Palestine

University of Birmingham

Edinburgh Students for Justice in Palestine

University of Edinburgh

Essex Palestine Solidarity Society

University of Essex

Manchester Friends of Palestine

University of Manchester

Nottingham Students for Justice in Palestine

University of Nottingham

Reading Friends of Palestine

University of Reading

Sheffield Palestine Society

University of Sheffield

UCL Students for Justice in Palestine

University College London

Warwick Action for Palestine

University of Warwick

Westminster Friends of Palestine

University of Westminster

York Palestine Solidarity Society

University of York