Sunak summons university chiefs to discuss safety of Jewish students

Rishi Sunak is to summon university leaders to Downing Street to discuss the safety of Jewish students amid warnings that pro-Palestinian peers “replicate scenes of hatred from US campuses”.

Pro-Palestinian protesters forced their way into the library at Goldsmiths, University of London and barricaded themselves in, with “from the river to the sea” and “shut it down for Palestine” banners put up in the windows.

Encampments in protest against Israel’s war with Gaza have begun springing up at other British universities to protest against Israel’s war in Gaza, with the Union of Jewish Students warning of a “hostile and toxic atmosphere”.

Anti-Israel banners and Palestinian flags have been raised at tented protests at universities including Bristol, Leeds, Manchester, Warwick, Newcastle and Sheffield.

It has led to “serious” government concerns that the campus protests could escalate to the sort of scenes witnessed in the US, where pro-Palestinian protests at Ivy League universities turned violent.

Mr Sunak will ask university vice-chancellors to attend a meeting at Number 10 later this month, where they will be asked to explain what they are doing to combat anti-Semitism and intimidatory behaviour.

Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, has already told them they may need an increased police presence on or around campuses after some were “slow to react” to the problem.

On Wednesday night, the Goldsmiths for Palestine group pushed past security guards to occupy the library, where it has demanded a meeting with managers to call for more scholarships for Palestinian students, among other things.

The University and College Union branch of Goldsmiths, which represents lecturers, expressed “solidarity” with the students occupying the library. The UCU at a national level has said it “supports all those standing against complicity in genocide”.

On Thursday, the Union of Jewish Students said that its members were “angry, tired and hurt by the continuous torrent of anti-Semitic hatred on campus” since the Oct 7 terrorist attack by Hamas, which triggered the war.

The statement said: “As Jewish students begin their exams, their peers seek to replicate scenes of hatred from US campuses, with protesters already having called to ‘globalise the intifada’, to support the Houthis in Yemen, and to not ‘engage with Zionists’.

“While students have a right to protest, these encampments create a hostile and toxic atmosphere on campus for Jewish students. Let us be clear – we will not stand for this hatred. It is time that universities take their duty of care to Jewish students seriously.”

Speaking in Parliament, Penny Mordaunt, the Leader of the Commons, said: “I think, and I hope, all UK universities will be in no doubt about their responsibilities to all that attend their campuses and their facilities but in particular to those communities that are feeling particularly under attack.

“That is what we expect of them, and we hope and expect that they will meet any such notion of similar protests with an extremely strict response.”

A Downing Street spokesman said universities must ensure that Jewish students feel safe on campus, adding: “Whilst we firmly believe in the power of rigorous free speech and debate, the right to that does not include the right to harass others or incite others to violence or terrorism.”

A Department for Education source said there was “serious concern” that the protests could escalate after riot police were called in to disperse sit-ins at Columbia University in New York and the University of California in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

The department is liaising with universities and police forces to ensure that there are adequate levels of security on campuses, with one source saying most universities had done a good job, but others had been slow to react.

Ms Keegan has written to vice-chancellors twice to outline their duties to prevent anti-Semitism on campuses and remind them that not all free speech is legal.

A spokesman for Goldsmiths said: “We are in dialogue with students and are fully committed to working together to put in place meaningful support for those affected by the war.

“This includes pledging £120,000 a year to humanitarian scholarships for Palestinian students to study with us and developing ways of supporting the rebuilding of universities and education in the region.”

A spokesman for Warwick University’s Jewish Society said: “Jewish students on campus feel intimidated and unsafe when masked protesters chant references to terrorist attacks. This also deters prospective Jewish students, whose experience of Warwick has been dominated by these protests.

“The stated intention to create a Columbia-style occupation, where US protesters have called for the destruction of Tel Aviv, told Jewish students to ‘go back to Poland’ and openly supported Hamas’s Oct 7 terror attacks, is deeply concerning.”

The University of Warwick confirmed that it was not currently pursuing any disciplinary sanctions against the pro-Palestinian students still camped out on its grounds.

A spokesman said: “This demonstration is being managed in line with our legal duty and commitment to allow freedom of speech on campus.

“The University of Warwick will not initiate any disciplinary action against any protesters, organisers or students involved in the ongoing demonstration unless the university receives complaints that would have to be reviewed under the duty of care owed to all students.”