Yahoo News Sunak summons university leaders after ‘unacceptable rise in anti-Semitism’
An “unacceptable rise in anti-Semitism” has taken place on University campuses, Rishi Sunak has said, after summoning vice-chancellors to Downing Street to discuss the safety of Jewish students.
The Prime Minister wants a zero-tolerance approach to the intimidation of Jewish students by a “vocal and aggressive minority” whose right to free speech does not entitle them to harass people.
Mr Sunak will meet university leaders on Thursday after pro-Palestinian student encampments were set up at Oxford, Cambridge and elsewhere over the weekend.
Jewish students have said they feel “cut off” from university life by protests that have gone on since Israel’s war with Hamas began in October.
On Tuesday it emerged that Oxford University students protesting against the war in Gaza had secretly signed up to a demand that millions of Palestinians be allowed to take back their ancestral land in Israel.
Oxford Action for Palestine is insisting that students who want to join their tented village in the centre of the city agree with a radical manifesto that would effectively mean the collapse of Israel as a country, which goes way beyond the stated aims of their protest.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said that students involved in the protests needed to understand that: “The right to free speech does not include the right to harass people or incite violence.”
The spokesman added: “We expect university leaders to take robust action in dealing with that kind of behaviour and that will be the subject of the conversation in No 10 later this week, to ensure a zero-tolerance approach to this sort of behaviour is adopted on all campuses.”
Mr Sunak began Tuesday’s weekly Cabinet meeting by saying there had been an “unacceptable rise in anti-Semitism on our university campuses”.
His spokesman said campuses should be “tolerant places where people of all communities, particularly Jewish students at this time, are treated with respect” and that a “vocal and aggressive minority” must not be able to intimidate other students or academics.
Until now, the protestors have publicly said they want universities and colleges to pull all investments in Israel or with Israeli links, and increase bursaries for Palestinian students wanting to study in the UK.
But in secret the organisers of the Oxford protest are pursuing a far more radical agenda that suggests their ultimate goal is the dismantling of the state of Israel.
Anyone wanting to pitch a tent in the encampment in front of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History is being told they must be “committed to upholding the Thawabit”, a set of demands laid down by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation in the 1970s.
It goes beyond the two-state solution – advocated by the G7, the European Union, the US, China and others – to demand the right of return for around six million Palestinian refugees to the homes they or their ancestors owned in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza before the state of Israel was created in 1948.
The Thawabit also calls for Jerusalem to be recognised as the “capital of Palestine”, the right to self-determination and “the right of colonised people to resist against occupation”.
More than 80 professors at Oxford University have signed a statement supporting the student protest. There is no mention of the Thawabit or its aims in their statement.
In Cambridge, where a similar encampment has been established, Gavriel Sacks, co-president of the university’s Jewish Society, said the entire experience of first year Jewish students had been dominated by the protests, leaving them feeling “cut off” socially and struggling to make friends.
One Jewish academic at Cambridge, who asked not to be named, said the protest camp there “verges on an act of desecration” because it was set up on Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day, on which the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust are commemorated.
A spokesman for Oxford University said: “We respect our students and staff members’ right to freedom of expression in the form of peaceful protests. We ask everyone who is taking part to do so with respect, courtesy and empathy…as we have stressed in our student and staff communications there is no place for intolerance at the University of Oxford.”
Other university towns and cities where similar protests have happened include London, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield, Leeds, Warwick, Swansea and Bristol.
05:32 PM BST
That’s all for today
Thanks for following today’s live blog. We’ll be back tomorrow to bring you all the latest from the ongoing student protests. Here is a summary of the day:
Protesters camping at King’s College in Cambridge and the University’s Natural History Museum in Oxford woke to coffee and music as pro-Palestine demonstrations entered their second day.
Oxford protesters refused to answer police questions concerning the safety of those camping. In Cambridge there was no police presence.
A prominent Jewish academic at Cambridge said the protest camp “verges on an act of desecration” for the “decision to set up the encampment on the day in the Jewish calendar when the loss of six million lives in the Holocaust is solemnly commemorated”
Oxford’s first Jewish Lord Mayor says she is worried about the rise of “anti-Semitic language and imagery” in recent protests.
A 19-year-old Jewish student described an anti-Semitic incident in which he was called a “pig”.
Cambridge protesters chanted “shame” as they marched through the city to deliver envelopes containing their demands to the University’s vice-chancellors.
A reporter from The Sun was called “scum” by Oxford protesters while other journalists were discouraged from entering the encampment.
A Jewish student was refused entry to the Oxford encampment for refusing to sign a radical manifesto that called for millions of Palestinians be allowed to take back their ancestral land in Israel.
A Telegraph reporter was asked to leave Oxford protest after being surrounded by protesters.
More than 80 Oxford professors signed a statement supporting the protesters
04:55 PM BST
Prominent Jewish professor says protest ‘echoes’ Nazi Germany
A prominent Jewish professor at Cambridge described the pro-Palestinian rally this afternoon as having “echoes” of Nazi Germany.
The professor, who did not wish to be named, said: “This return to a racialised way of thinking has echoes of the 1930s and is deeply worrying.”
He added that the actions of Ari Vladimir, a 19-year-old Jewish student who launched a counter-protest yesterday, were “very brave”.
Asked about the motivations of the protesters, who have repeatedly accused Israel of genocide, he said: “It’s another example of this tremendous oversimplification, which is deeply worrying.
“A couple of lines on social media will define what you think because you want to be part of a herd.
“The problem that we have, particularly with the far left, is that being noisy and making a fuss and insisting that their grievances are based on a fundamental morality - it’s expressed in such simplistic language that it’s something quite difficult to contest.”
The professor said the demands of the student protesters, which include divesting from numerous companies with ties to Israel, are “complete nonsense”.
“I don’t think it’s realistic, and in the process they’ll fail their exams,” he said. “Blaming the banks for that seems to me completely ridiculous.”
04:42 PM BST
Pictured: Protests continue through the afternoon
04:26 PM BST
Oxford: ‘There is no place for intolerance’
The University of Oxford’s most recent statement on the protests:
“We are aware of the ongoing demonstration by members of our University community. We respect our students and staff members’ right to freedom of expression in the form of peaceful protests. We ask everyone who is taking part to do so with respect, courtesy and empathy.
Oxford University’s primary focus is the health and safety of the University community, and to ensure any impact on work, research and learning, including student exams, is minimised.
As we have stressed in our student and staff communications there is no place for intolerance at the University of Oxford.
“The Museum of Natural History and the Pitt Rivers Museum remain open.”
04:15 PM BST
More than 80 Oxford professors sign statement supporting protesters
More than 80 professors at Oxford University have signed a statement supporting the student protest.
They have given their backing to the advertised aims of Oxford Action for Palestine, which include calls for a ceasefire, condemnation of the destruction of universities in Gaza and supporting Palestinian scholars’ education.
There is no mention of the Thawabit or its aims in their statement, which is signed by more than 300 academics in total, who also include fellows, lecturers and researchers.
04:03 PM BST
Jewish students ‘wary’ of drawing attention to their Jewishness
Leaders of Cambridge’s Jewish Student Society (JSoc) have said they are “wary” of drawing attention to their Jewishness and have felt “cut off” since pro-Palestinian protests began on campus.
Ella Vardi, 20, the Cambridge JSoc external affairs officer, said: “I used to wear a star of David necklace, but now I’m much more wary of bringing up my Jewishness to people I don’t know very well. This time last year, I would have thrown it into conversation and not thought about it.
“Since October 7, the option has been more often than not to keep it to myself.”
Gavriel Sacks, 20, co-president of the Cambridge JSoc, added that his entire university experience so far has been coloured by pro-Palestinian protests.
“As a first year, our entire university experience has been this. Therefore it’s easy to associate the anti-Zionism [of protesters] with anti-Semitism,” the Trinity Hall college history student said. “I struggled to settle. I struggled to make friends.”
Although Mr Sacks said the protests have not overshadowed his first year, he agreed that they had made him feel “cut-off”.
“Socially, I’ve definitely felt limited,” he said.
03:34 PM BST
Pictured: Telegraph reporter leaving Oxford encampment
03:16 PM BST
Telegraph asked to leave Oxford protest
The Telegraph has now been asked to leave the encampment in Oxford.
Protesters said they were at capacity for press and that the presence of some reporters was making them uncomfortable.
When the Telegraph reporter initially refused, a protest organiser said she would “mobilise” the rest of the protesters to make him leave.
After the reporter refused again, the protestor used a megaphone to summon a large group of protesters who then called on the reporter to leave.
“The intimidating mob surrounded me,” news reporter Albert Tait said. “There were protesters shouting in my face and one of them repeatedly kicked my shoes.
“I decided to leave but they followed behind me as I walked off, continuing their tirade of shouts and heckles.”
03:03 PM BST
Jewish student refused entry to encampment for refusing to sign manifesto
A Jewish student wearing a kippah tried to enter the Oxford encampment but was refused by protesters because he did not want to sign the radical manifesto.
The manifesto contains a demand that millions of Palestinians be allowed to take back their ancestral land in Israel.
The man, 38, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “I highly doubt they would have let me in anyway because I am Jewish.”
Asked about the protest, he said: “I don’t agree with it. I think there are better things to do. I hope it stops in this beautiful city. I hope they don’t use it to intimidate Jewish students.
“I wanted to wear my kippah to show there is another viewpoint, and I wanted to wear an Israeli flag armband but changed my mind. I don’t want to end up in the hospital.”
The student was eventually allowed to enter the encampment.
He said: “It made me feel like nothing to be honest”
02:21 PM BST
Watch: Cambridge students march to deliver envelopes containing demands
02:10 PM BST
Is the protest in Oxford legal?
If the answer is no, do the police intend to do anything about it?
When the Telegraph put these two questions to Thames Valley Police, it responded with the following: “We are aware of a peaceful protest currently taking place at Oxford University.
“The protesters are exercising their right to protest around the ongoing situation in the Middle East.
“Thames Valley Police have attended, and are in contact with Oxford University.
“No arrests have been made.”
01:54 PM BST
Reporter called ‘scum’ by Oxford protesters
Certain journalists are being strongly discouraged from entering the protest site in Oxford.
A protestor shouted at a reporter from The Sun as he tried to enter the encampment and called him “scum”.
A reporter from the Daily Mail was escorted out yesterday after trying to interview protesters.
It comes despite the protesters setting up a media tent and speaking to journalists from other outlets.
01:40 PM BST
Cambridge protesters chant ‘shame’ on march to deliver envelope containing their demands
A protest organiser, dressed in brown corduroy trousers and wearing a black and white keffiyeh, addressed Cambridge student demonstrators, raising aloft a list of the protesters demands, which the group planned to deliver to the University’s vice chancellors.
The protesters chanted “shame” after the name of each vice-chancellor was read out.
The march got under way around 12.15pm with the protesters walking slowly northwards from outside King’s College to Senate House passage a few hundred yards away.
The group’s leaders stood at the front holding the brown envelopes containing the protester’s demands.
Chanting “stop the bombing now” and “Israel is a terrorist state”, the protestors paraded down the narrow Senate House Passage before delivering their envelopes to pro-vice-chancellors Bhaskar Vira and Kamal Munir.
“It’s a peaceful protest,’ said Mr Vira. “They’re entitled to their views.”
01:10 PM BST
Oxford protesters sprayed by sprinklers overnight
Some of the protesters in Oxford were sprayed with water last night when sprinklers were turned on where they camped on the lawn.
The protesters are now planning to speak to the landowner to stop the same thing from happening tonight.
The issue was raised when the protesters held an internal meeting today to discuss the future of the encampment.
They have also agreed to deliver their demands in person to the University of Oxford after holding a vote.
12:48 PM BST
Pictured: Students speak at Cambridge encampment
12:39 PM BST
‘Maybe my Jewishness provoked them’: Student describes anti-Semitic incident
A Jewish student walked past the protest holding a pad of A4 paper that said: “Rape is not resistance.”
The 19-year-old maths student, who did not give his name, said: “It’s obvious to me that most people who are calling for resistance against the Jewish people and see it as any way legitimate…it’s absolutely disgusting, the cruelty.
“That’s what this message is about. It’s a form of resistance,” he added, referring to his sign.
The student said he was the victim of an anti-Semitic incident while walking to class this morning.
“This morning someone was walking past them and called me a pig. They then started murmuring things at me. Maybe this provoked them, my Jewishness,” he said, gesturing to his Kipur.
He said “it’s never happened here before, but I don’t feel unsafe”, adding: “I have my close community around me and keep my head down.
“It’s only when I have to walk past things like this that I feel like I can’t stay silent, and I have to say something.”
12:21 PM BST
‘Apartheid workshop’ and ‘pinkwashing’ panel event on today’s itinerary in Cambridge
Organisers of the Cambridge posted an itinerary for the day on their Instagram, which includes an “apartheid workshop” and a “panel event on pinkwashing”.
“Pinkwashing” is the practice of promoting LGBT rights to distract from violence against other countries.
Stella Swain, a Palestine Solidarity Campaign officer, held the workshop this morning in which she outlined the group’s “tactical decision in an ongoing fight for freedom”.
Addressing the practice of pinkwashing, Ms Swain said: “Israel uses faux concern for LGBT people to cover up genocide.
“Israel doesn’t care about gay Palestinians.”
12:05 PM BST
Oxford Lord Mayor concerned by rise of ‘anti-Semitic language and imagery’
Oxford’s first Jewish Lord Mayor says she is worried about the rise of “anti-Semitic language and imagery” in recent protests.
Elise Benjamin said some Gaza protestors had “strayed beyond legitimate criticism” - although did not refer specifically to the encampment outside the Pitt Rivers Museum.
Ms Benjamin, a former Green councillor who was Lord Mayor from 2011 to 2012, told The Telegraph: “As a Green I support the right to peacefully protest.
“As a Jew I recognise that some protests have included individuals who have strayed beyond legitimate criticism of the extreme response from the increasingly unpopular Right-wing Israeli government into using anti-Semitic language and imagery.”
12:00 PM BST
Pictured: Scenes from the Oxford and Cambridge protest camps
11:39 AM BST
No police presence at Cambridge encampment
There has been no police presence at the Cambridge camp this morning.
Protest organisers said two officers came to monitor proceedings on Monday afternoon but did not intervene.
A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire Constabulary said today: “We are aware of a protest which took place outside King’s College, in Cambridge, on land owned by the college, yesterday.
“Our officers engaged with the college, but there was no significant disruption.”
11:23 AM BST
Protest camp ‘verges on an act of desecration’
A prominent Jewish academic at Cambridge has said the protest camp “verges on an act of desecration”.
The professor, who did not wish to be named over concerns for their safety, said: “The decision to set up the encampment on the day in the Jewish calendar when the loss of six million lives in the Holocaust is solemnly commemorated betrays the ignorance and offensiveness of the demonstrators. To me, it verges on an act of desecration.”
The professor added that the protesters’ demands, which include cutting ties with Israeli academic institutions, could have damaging consequences.
They said: “Cutting off collaboration with Israeli universities means, I suppose, that when life-saving treatment developed by Israeli Nobel laureates is offered, these people will refuse to accept it, glorying in the knowledge that they wish to impede future amazing innovations in the sciences.”
11:12 AM BST
Pictured: Tents and banners strewn across campus lawns
10:59 AM BST
‘We are not accountable for the actions of all members of the public’
An organiser of the Cambridge protest said the group is “not accountable for the actions of all members of the public” after a Jewish counter-protester was pushed yesterday and had his Israeli flag ripped from him.
Ari Vladimir, 19, a first-year history student at Christ’s College, had an Israeli flag taken from his hands and thrown to the floor when he launched a counter-protest at yesterday’s Cambridge rally.
“That was a member of the public and we are not accountable for the actions of all members of the public,” the protest organiser, who did not give her name, said.
She added: “We are going to have a de-escalation debrief before the rally today so that protesters are aware.”
10:42 AM BST
What is happening in the US?
Campus demonstrations across the US descended into violence last week as riot police forcibly shut down encampments at several universities.
On Monday evening, demonstrators vandalised a First World War memorial and burned an American flag in Central Park, New York.
Around 1,000 protesters took to the streets of New York, marching up Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan before penetrating barricades that were blocking access to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where the gala was being held.
Earlier in the day, nearly 1,000 pro-Israel demonstrators gathered in Riverside Park near Columbia University in response to the pro-Palestinian encampment at the site.
Read our full explainer on the US protests here.
10:33 AM BST
‘We can escort you out’: Oxford protesters refusing to answer police questions
Two police officers have arrived, but protesters are refusing to answer their questions.
One of the officers asks if people are safe, if there are any children in the encampment, and if anyone is pregnant.
A protester, wearing a balaclava and a black hoodie, tells them that nobody there will speak to the police.
He says: “Hope you have a good day. We can escort you out.”
The police have now left. Thames Valley Police has been contacted for comment by The Telegraph.
10:12 AM BST
‘Oxford protests begin after students have lie-in’
It’s a late start in Oxford where the protest has entered its second day, writes Albert Tait at the scene.
Many of the 80 or so people who spent the night outside the Pitt Rivers Museum are still asleep in their tents by 10am.
The lawn they have occupied since Monday morning resembles a festival. It is churned and muddy, and wooden pallets and cardboard have been laid out.
There is a full schedule of events today, starting with a “news from Gaza” bulletin which will inform protesters about the latest events in the war.
Then at noon it is lunch. Yesterday it included plates of mezze which were dropped off by a University professor, one of the protesters tells The Telegraph.
10:07 AM BST
Around 40 tents pitched outside Cambridge’s King’s College
Around 40 tents are pitched up outside Cambridge’s King’s College on the second day of student protests on Tuesday morning.
The historic walls of the college remain lined with Palestinian flags and banners painted with messages including “divest from genocide” and “occupation is a crime”.
So far, about 15 student protesters have emerged from their tents, some with keffiyehs tied around their heads.
Those who are awake mill about drinking coffee while a playlist of protest songs from the likes of Gil Scott-Heron and NWA blare out of a speaker.
Several volunteers arrived a short while ago holding a large box containing takeaway meals for breakfast. A trestle table with a Palestinian flag table cloth has been set up to serve tea and coffee.
10:03 AM BST
Hello and welcome to our live coverage
We’re bringing you the latest updates as student pro-Palestine protests on University lawns at Oxford and Cambridge enter their second day.
