In January, Nadhim Zahawi, the Education Secretary, said that anyone who chanted the Hamas slogan could be referred to the police and that it was essential for universities to clamp down on the slogan following the outlawing of support for Hamas.
Mr Zahawi told the Jewish Chronicle in January that the rallying cry used by Hamas is “the kind of anti-Semitic, intolerant, murderous attitude of the organisation that’s proscribed.”
The group of pro-Palestine protesters had objected to the choice of speaker for the event made by the university’s Conservative Society, Colonel Richard Kemp, the former head of British forces in Afghanistan, partly because of his support for Israel.
Mr Wigoder, a third-year politics student at the University of Essex, said: “It is incredibly disappointing to read this disheartening news and see the university yet again abandoning their promises to Jewish students.
“Time after time, the university attempts to sweep anti-Semitism under the rug, and it leaves us feeling completely unsafe on campus. I have been chasing this complaint for months and this is an upsetting conclusion.”
As part of the recommendations made to the university following his investigation, Mr Morris said that work should take place in partnership with the student union “to increase student awareness and understanding of what constitutes anti-Semitism.”
‘Straight from the Hamas playbook’
Jonathan Hunter, trustee of the Pinsker Centre, a think tank that works on promoting constructive dialogue in higher education, said: “‘From the River to the Sea,’ is a line straight from the Hamas playbook … it is hard to imagine that such vitriol would be tolerated against any other minority at a British university.”
Col Kemp said that the university should “reconsider their blindsided denial of anti-Semitism” and that the investigtion’s conclusion “does not tally with British law nor our country’s respect for civil debate”.
Meanwhile, the National Union of Students (NUS) has become embroiled in an anti-Semitism row of its own after an affiliated student union wrote to them condemning the lack of action their leadership has taken over the issue.
Dom Casoria, vice president of Lancaster University Students’ Union, wrote to the NUS that his union was “deeply disappointed and hurt by the way the Jewish community has been engaged with and treated this year”.
He added that the “difficult relationship between Jewish students and NUS” was highlighted by the controversial decision for the union to choose rapper Lowkey as a performer at their centenary celebrations, which was cancelled after widespread criticism from the Jewish community.
