The students have spoken: No 'safe space' for Israeli war criminals on UK campuses

Over the last 19 months, the Palestine movement has swept university campuses worldwide. Student protests, building occupations, rallies, sit-ins, and encampments have been nonstop in attempts to change the pro-Israeli status quo at UK academic institutions.

Systemic support for Israel is widespread amongst universities in the UK. Many institutions' statements made after October 7 centred around Israel, ultimately ignoring the nearly eight-decade-long cause and struggle of the Palestinian people, especially in Gaza. Above that, most Western universities have ties to Israel, investing in companies that support the Israeli army.

The normalisation of Zionism on Western campuses is widespread. Universities post job vacancies for Jewish chaplains with the requirement of being “pro-Israel advocates.” The nature of this role has allowed for a chaplain from the University of Leeds, Zechariah Deutsch, an Israeli army reservist, to take leave and participate in the Gaza genocide. Deutsch and his wife, Nava, are chaplains with the University Jewish Chaplaincy (UJC).

The UJC is commonly used across UK universities. It is registered as a charity under British law and was awarded about $638,000 of funding for “welfare support for Jewish students” one year after the genocide in Gaza started. The organisation and those it hires have close links with Zionism. The previous UJC chaplains at the University of Leeds, Ariel and Sonia Pariente, were removed from their posts after making multiple public, vitriolic anti-Palestinian remarks.

Deutsch and his wife took over the Pariente’s position, but they are no better. In November 2023, Deutsch, an Israeli citizen, took videos of himself in military uniform and shared them in WhatsApp group chats open to students. This left many students outraged and calling for his resignation. Once Deutsch returned to the University of Leeds after participating in the genocide, protests against Deutsch erupted on campus. Yet, these events were labelled as “antisemitic attacks” by the university.

These protests were part of a larger movement for Palestine at the University of Leeds. Student activists created the Leeds Students Against Apartheid Coalition (LSAAC) to pressure the university to cut ties with BAE Systems (the UK’s largest arms company with ties to Israel), acknowledge the genocide, cut ties with Israeli institutions, and remove war criminals from campus. Until now, the university has not acted on any of LSAAC’s demands.

The University of Leeds's supposed values include shaping a better future for humanity, achieving social justice, and fostering an inclusive environment. However, these principles have been inconsistent with their actions towards students. Deliberately ignoring a student movement, allowing a genocidaire to return to resume chaplaincy duties, and weaponising disciplinary action against students does not advance social justice.

Disciplinary action has been a common tool of repression used against student protesters for Palestine across the UK. At the University of Leeds, the president of the Palestine Society, Suffian, was suspended from his democratically elected position after an encounter with campus security and threats from Zionists.

During the student encampment last year, the University of Leeds officials ordered the removal of security on campus throughout the night of June 2nd after multiple incidents of physical and verbal harassment were directed at the students of the encampment.

While a war criminal returns to campus with the full ability to reclaim a privileged position, students are being punished for rejecting the presence of Zionism on their campus and their institution's complicity in a brutal genocide.

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The events that occurred at the University of Leeds are just one example of how disciplinary action and state-sanctioned violence became the norm across the UK. In May 2024, 36 student encampments were set up across UK universities. Students across the nation were unified in their demands: for academic institutions to disclose their investments, divestment from companies that fund the genocide in Gaza, and commit to an academic boycott of all Zionist universities.

Yet, instead of meeting and negotiating with students, university officials responded brutally. Police and campus security assaulted and arrested students for practising their right to protest. Dozens of universities launched investigations against their own student body. Cambridge University attempted to ban pro-Palestinian protests altogether.

In times of great repression, remaining steadfast is more important than ever. The Palestinian liberation movement is a just cause for just people. Students and staff must reject any attempts at fearmongering, threats, and remember that if their actions, protests, and resistance were hopeless or meaningless, management would not try to silence the student movement.

In fact, we have already seen positive change arise from the students' movement. In April 2024, York University responded to pressure from students and staff and stopped investing in weapons and arms manufacturers tied to Israel.

Just recently, King’s College Cambridge announced that it will be divesting from the arms industry and companies complicit in "the occupation of Ukraine and Palestinian territories." The decision came after students protested outside of a building hosting the London Defence Conference, which had a weapons manufacturer with ties to Israel in attendance.

These wins prove that change is possible and closer than ever. Institutions complicit in genocide will not respond to passive pleas. It is everybody’s collective responsibility to escalate protests to stop the genocide in Gaza. Over the last year, the world has seen the horrors that our governments and institutions are capable of committing and supporting.

The response that is happening in our backyard is a small dose of the injustice Western governments are perpetrating and pales in comparison to the atrocities that are being wreaked across Gaza. Once violence and malice, especially on this scale, are deemed justifiable in one area, it can and will be warranted in others. We must remember that our oppression is intertwined, and to free one of us is to free us all. Therefore, until Palestine is free, the student movement must continue.

It is critical to remember that our numbers are greater than their threats. Banding together in this movement is the world’s greatest hope to bring about change. Governments and institutions rely on fear, but our perspective must be framed to fear injustice more than we fear retaliation. In reality, they cannot arrest, assault, or suspend everyone. That is when their punishments lose intensity. The student's constant refusal to back down is the key to success.

Universities that have yet to divest from the Israeli occupation have one hope: that students will tire and fall back due to punishment. University officials think, “they cannot keep this up forever,” but the student movement for Palestine has longevity.

The viciousness of this genocide is what is truly unsustainable. As long as injustice can persist, the fight for justice must too.

Asma Barakat is a Palestinian freelance writer based in New York City covering Palestine, politics, and society.

Follow Asma on X: @flstniya

Have questions or comments? Email us at: editorial-english@newarab.com

Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.