(Jewish Group) As A Jewish Student, A Rise In Anti-Semitism Has Left Me Feeling Unsafe On Campus

(THIS IS THE JEWISH GROUP! RESPECT!!)

When I arrived in the UK, I was expecting the best out of my next three years in further education in the UK. When I was at school, I had never heard about the safe spaces that were constantly being discussed in universities, or the phrase religious pluralism, or hate based on religious devotion.

As a freshman, I made friends, started socialising and became familiar with the student Jewish community. I soon joined the Jewish Society committee as a standing member. At university, I believed, I could possess a set of beliefs and devotions and be respected for my opinion - but it became apparent I wasn’t.

In parallel with the Labour Party’s spat with anti-Semitism and Jeremy Corbyn’s remorseless ambivalence to stamp the hate out, anti-Semitism has grown on British university campuses. With this year’s revelations of anti-Semitic name-calling in Oxford University’s Labour Club and the shocking violence against Jewish supporters of Israel at King’s College London and Cambridge, this issue hit too close to home.

In one of my first engagements with the Jewish Society, I attended a talk by a reporter on the dealings of the Knesset - the Israeli Parliament in Jerusalem. I remember distinctly a student, adorned in a red and white keffiyeh, stand up suddenly to attack one of the reporter’s claims about the Israel-Palestine debate. In his rant, he denounced the existence of the State of Israel and attacked the Jewish religion for the primary cause of the Palestinian plight in the region.

My heart sunk in my chest as I felt physically threatened by a man preaching hate against my religion, especially on a campus where I was told and believed I would feel safe.

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