Grant Shapps’ daughter drops Israel module at university over ‘safety fears’

The daughter of Defence Secretary Grant Shapps had revealed she dropped a module about Israel while studying at the University of Leeds because she felt “unsafe” with responses by her peers to the  October 7th Hamas terror attack.

Tabytha Shapps, a second-year studying politics and economics at the University of Leeds told the Telegraph newspaper “As the only Jew in the class… I’m sat there and I’m thinking, what about the injustices of the 1,200 Israelis killed on Oct 7?”.

The 19 year-old said she felt intimidated by the controversial “from the river to the sea” chants and “end Israeli state
terror” placards at pro-Palestine protests at the university.

The second-year politics and economics student claimed that fellow students talked about “Israeli apartheid and Israel’s agenda as a genocidal state”, which she says made her so uncomfortable she felt forced to drop the module.

Tabytha’s mother Belinda Shapps reportedly  wrote to the university to raise the issue of her daughter’s safety and was sent a generic response which read in part: “The university has an explicit duty in law to take such steps as are reasonably practicable to ensure that freedom of speech within the law is secured for members, students, employees and visiting speakers.”

A spokesman for the University of Leeds said: “Whilst the university has a legal duty to support free speech, anti-Semitism or Islamophobia of any kind will not be tolerated and we do not support any views or actions which make others feel unsafe or unwelcome on campus.

“Our security teams are liaising with local police and the Community Security Trust to ensure our students feel safe, and we urge students to report any incident for investigation and action.

“The university is providing a wide range of support for students who are affected by the conflict and will continue to listen and respond to their concerns.”