Birmingham student elected next UJS president
James Harris beat Etan Feingold by 361 votes and will take over from Esther Offenberg in June for the one-year Union of Jewish Students presidency
A Birmingham student has been elected as the next president of the Union of Jewish Students after only two candidates entered the race.
James Harris beat Etan Feingold by 361 votes and will take over from Israeli student Esther Offenberg in June for the one-year UJS presidency, promising to get Universities to pay the security costs of controversial Israeli speakers on campus.
A University of Birmingham student and Jewish Society president, Harris also said he wanted to engage more Jewish students in the union, during the organisation’s centenary year election.
His victory over Feingold, from the University of Nottingham, was announced on Sunday during the annual UJS Conference, in which recently-appointed peer and former Labour MP John Mann spoke about the importance of fighting antisemitism.
In his manifesto, Harris said he would lobby all Universities to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism and train every Student Union officer on antisemitism.
Harris comes from a Jewish family in London and went to Jewish primary and secondary schools. In 2017 he went to Birmingham, where the Jewish student population is so large Jews jokingly call it a “Jewniversity”.
Among those to congratulate Harris was London-based UJIA, whose director Robin Moss said he “looked forward to working with you to enhance and expand Israel Engagement provision for Jewish students,” adding: “We wish you the very best of luck in this important role.”
The Board of Deputies also congratulated Harris, saying it looked forward to working with him.
Huge Mazel Tov to the new President-Elect of UJS 2020-2021 James Harris who won by 361 votes! UJS is excited looking forward to him implementing key points from his manifesto, click here to read
James manifesto:https://t.co/hfm6nMgZIY pic.twitter.com/XzlTwiVepl— Union of Jewish Students (@UJS_UK) December 8, 2019
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.