Interviews filmed by the Jewish YouTube channel J-TV during Israeli Apartheid Week at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) reveals shocking examples of pro-terror and antisemitic views held by some students.
The video (highlighted by the Algemeiner and Jewish Chronicle yesterday) comes weeks after multiple UK media reports detailing the hostile atmosphere for Jewish students at some British universities. As Baroness Ruth Deech told The Telegraph: “Amongst Jewish students there is gradually a feeling that there are certain universities that you should avoid — definitely SOAS”. A report in the Evening Standard included allegations that some Jewish students at SOAS are so scared that they avoid wearing the star of David, speaking Hebrew or even attending Jewish events.
Whilst SOAS Director Baroness Valerie Amos continues to firmly reject accusations that SOAS tolerates antisemitism, the Charity Commission is currently investigating an incident in which a SOAS Palestine Society hosted a speaker last month who linked the “cult” of Zionism to Nazism. Earlier in the year, Richard Millett reported on a SOAS event in which one speaker legitimised the charge that Israel harvests the organs of dead Palestinians.
In December, the British government adopted the Working Definition of Antisemitism, which includes as antisemitic denying Israel the right to exist as a Jewish state, drawing parallels between Israel and Nazi Germany and justifying terror attacks against Jews in the name of a radical ideology.