OPINION: I heard the courage of Jewish student leaders standing up to campus hate
Solicitor General and Finchley and Golders Green MP Sarah Sackman writes for Jewish News about the inspiration she is taking from a meeting with 40 student leaders from UJS
September has always felt like a time for reflection and renewal. As we enter the month of Elul, we look back on the year that has gone and then towards the new year in Rosh Hashanah. In particular, for our children and our students, this month ushers in the new academic year.
It is a time for new beginnings. And so, earlier this week, in Parliament, I hosted forty student leaders from across the country who represent the Union of Jewish Students. I want to make it the first of an annual convention, to show thanks to these young people, for their role in British Jewish life.
Listening to their courage and their experience of standing up for our community in the face of hate, I was reminded of my own time as a JSoc President in Cambridge many years ago – and how much easier we had it.
The most controversial incident I remember from my time was when I proposed Sephardi Friday Night Dinner.
My committee reeled as they came to the shocking realisation that this meant a Shabbat with no chicken soup.
I remember the stresses of food orders and making sure we had enough people to do the washing up. Of course, antisemitism is a long running scourge, but gladly not one that came to define my time in JSoc.
Compare that to this year, where Jewish students have endured the most challenging time on campus in generations. Few of them could have anticipated that fighting against antisemitism would have loomed so large over their time at university.
But leadership is about standing up, even if, and perhaps because no one else will – and the student leaders I met have risen to this challenge remarkably.
They are meeting adversity head on, but not letting their Jewish life be defined by it.
In between meetings with Vice Chancellors and campaigns, there’s still time for Friday Night Dinners, Lunch and Learns, interfaith events and Booze for Jews – just as there always has been.
It is the greatest testament to them that Jewish life on campus remains as vibrant as ever.
I told them on Monday that this is a Government that will listen. I am proud that when UJS campaigned against the implementation of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act, the Government heard their concerns and acted.
Now, Jewish students will no longer have to worry about the horrifying prospect of universities being unable to stop holocaust deniers from speaking on campus.
We know how urgent the task of tackling hate on our streets is, but it is not an easy one. The fact is, you can’t fight against antisemitism with a broken criminal justice system.
That’s why this new Government, and I, are taking urgent action to fix our policing, prisons and courts.
Since being appointed Solicitor-General, I have made tackling hate crimes – including antisemitism – one of my top priorities.
This has meant giving consent to bring charges against individuals for glorifying Hamas terror and working to ensure that marches don’t go near community centres and places of worship.
Working with our brilliant communal leadership, including the Community Security Trust, has been invaluable.
We have achieved a lot in just a few short months, but there is so much more to do. As I look to the year ahead, I am taking inspiration from our student leaders on campus – and ensure that we will always have their backs.
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