The National Union of Students has elected in a woman as president who
has previously spoken about “mainstream Zionist-led media outlets”.
Malia Bouattia, who has been the Union’s Black Students Officer since
2014, was elected to the top student job after just a single round of voting on
Wednesday, despite concerns from Jewish students over her prior remarks.
Some of her previous comments include calling Birmingham University “a
Zionist outpost in British higher education”. She has also said that Prevent,
the government’s anti-radicalisation policy, is dictated by “all manner of
Zionist and neo-con lobbies”. She also spoke about the “mainstream Zionist-led
media outlets” in 2014, during an event at which she appeared to promote armed
struggle against Israel.
The Union of Jewish Students reacted by saying: “UJS is proud of its
long history and long standing positive relationship with the National Union of
students. Now that Malia Bouattia has been elected president, we hope that that
relationship will be able to continue.”
“There will, however, still be many Jewish
students who have not been satisfied with Malia’s response so far to the
concerns raised by Jewish students over the last few weeks. Now, knowing the
result of the election, these questions still need to be answered.”
“We look forward to Malia leading an NUS
that honours the just passed policy to tackle seriously all forms of
antisemitism, including attempts to deny Jewish people the right to
self-determination and use of antisemitic rhetoric in attacks on State of
Israel.”
Malia was elected with 371 votes to 328 of her nearest competitor, the
incumbent president Megan Dunn.
