Pro-Palestine Student Group at Glasgow University Encourages Excluding Jews Supporting Israel (Glasgow, United Kingdom)

A University of Glasgow pro-Palestine student group has circulated materials urging students to label Zionism as racism and to exclude Jews who support Israel from campus activities. The group, known as the Justice for Palestine Society, distributed flyers offering a template for student organizations to revise their membership policies to exclude Zionism. The template included statements such as “Zionism is a racist ideology that won’t be tolerated on our campus.”

Raphi Leon, president of the Union of Jewish Students, condemned the initiative as “an antisemitic and discriminatory campaign.” He emphasized the need to protect and include Jewish and Israeli students on campus, highlighting the potential harm of such exclusionary language.

Similar exclusionary tactics have emerged on Canadian campuses, where anti-Zionist groups have organized encampments, advocated for university divestment from Israel, and encouraged student walkouts. In some cases, violence has erupted, and universities have closed temporarily for safety reasons. Anti-Zionist sentiment has also extended to faculty, with some professors integrating Palestinian activism into their coursework.

A federal government report on campus antisemitism revealed instances where Jewish-Canadian students faced anti-Zionist rhetoric that crossed into antisemitism. One student reported being called a “child killer, white supremacist, racist and Zionist” by peers in his residence. Another described a professor who labeled support for Israel as racism.

These incidents underscore a growing concern about the conflation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism. Advocates argue that such false narratives threaten the inclusion and safety of Jewish students and faculty. The debate continues over how to distinguish legitimate criticism of Israeli policies from expressions of antisemitism.

The issue reflects broader tensions between advocacy for Palestinian rights and the protection of Jewish identity and heritage. As campuses grapple with these challenges, the call for clarity and accountability remains urgent.

Source: Read the original report