Warwick SU Officers defend NUS President Malia Bouattia

Three Warwick SU sabbatical members have signed an open letter disagreeing with a report on anti-semitism in the UK, which condemns NUS President Malia Bouattia.

The report, completed by the Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC), condemns Bouattia for being ‘outright racist’ in calling Birmingham University a ‘Zionist Outpost’.

With this, the HASC point to the failure of the NUS in confronting a growing culture of antisemitism across university campuses.

However, Warwick SU President Luke Pilot, Welfare Officer Chloe Wynne and Education Officer Hope Worsdale have all signed an open letter disagreeing with this report.

Their support of the NUS President stems from the fact that the report focuses entirely on the Labour Party and the NUS, rather than also highlighting the role of far right movements.

As a result, they claim that the report is not impartial, and is severely lacking in factual evidence.

The letter states: “An attack on NUS is an attack on the student and union movements. This is completely unacceptable and we cannot allow these claims against us to go unchallenged.”

President Luke Pilot said: “Anti-semitism has no place in our society or University community.

“However, an array of organisations and individuals – both from within the Jewish community and beyond – have questioned the focus of the report, particularly its failure to address the far-right activity currently surging across the UK and Europe.

“Further concerns have also been raised about the factual inaccuracy of information relating to NUS.”

Bouattia has denied allegations, and has criticised media outlets for calling her “a racist, anti-semite and Islamic state sympathiser.”