OPINION: We cannot allow our students’ lives to be ruined by cruel indifference

As the festival of lights ends, the darkness resurfaces. No change. Jewish university students, traumatised by terms of unparalleled hate, abuse, intimidation and aggression, are home. But only temporarily. They face the prospect of an imminent return to dangerous territory. For them, not that sense of excitement at going back to uni. Instead, the dread.

Weeks ago, Stella Maris, the rector at St Andrews University, unleashed a scathing attack on Israel, combined, most inappropriately, with an invitation to an Electric Intifada website arguing strongly that Jews slaughtered Jews on 7 October.

Elected on a platform of unification, her words and actions isolated, endangered and humiliated the Jewish student body. No remorse. In reply to their cries of distress, the rector swept the damage she had done aside by accusations of “weaponisation of antisemitism”. All beyond belief?

Long after, the struggle to have this individual removed by reason of her obvious unsuitability, continues. It might be argued that whatever the suggested complexities, she should have been summarily displaced there and then. Where there is a will, there is a way.

The inference to be drawn is overwhelming.

The disgusting St Andrews scenario is a mere example of events up and down this country. At universities and elsewhere. Chanukah has served to mask the status quo. The brightness of the lights has given reassurance, but no answers.

We are stuck with the Hitler gas bill jokes at Queen Mary College, the incitement to blow up a Jewish Labour conference at Bristol, the invasion of lecture theatres by pro Palestinian protestors at Edinburgh, and so on and on and on.

Not to be overlooked overall is that three-quarters of UK Jewish citizens are more fearful of antisemitic incidents than ever before. Unsurprising, bearing in mind the massive uplift in UK antisemitic attacks since 7 October, and global mirroring.

Where there is outcry, it is met with ‘What about freedom of speech?’ Are we still on planet Earth, one might ask?

As Jewish students summon the courage to enforced reunion with their cowardly tormentors, and ponder the disgraceful absence of meaningful response, the Jewish community must return from Chanukah celebrations fighting harder than ever. No stone unturned.

The risk that stirring up antisemitic hatred will simply become a feature of everyday life is growing. Glorification of terrorism seems to have become acceptable, even trendy.

Where there is outcry, it is met with “What about freedom of speech?”. Are we still on planet Earth, one might ask? Only the Jewish community will struggle relentlessly for justice. Others have different priorities. For many, it has emerged, antisemitic hate is a peripheral, if not tedious, subject. All of this needs to be overidden – fast.

In 2024, we must argue our case louder than ever, more than before. Peaceably, but persistently. Those like the rector must be forced out. Urgent action must be demanded. The government must be engaged. The law must change. We must all play our parts.

We cannot allow our students’ lives to be ruined, nor that of any Jewish person, young or old. Dithering, delay and indifference must not deter us.

From the north to the south, we must be seen and heard. Fearlessly, relentlessly. We said ‘never again’ and we must prove we meant it. Otherwise, next Chanukah, the lights might have more trouble masking the darkness. As Jews, we owe it to ourselves to guarantee that that does not happen.

• Jeremy Dein, KC