The British government is considering suspending all ties with the National Union of Students after the organization failed to address allegations of antisemitism.
Michelle Donelan, the minister of state for universities, said that she was “actively considering” sending a complaint against the union to the Charity Commission or instead engaging with “alternative student voices,” the Times reported.
Donelan described being “deeply concerned by antisemitism within the NUS, including the remarks of the new president.”
“Students deserve better,” she said.
Donelan’s move to distance the government from the NUS, came shortly after Lord John Mann, the UK government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, called for the National Union of Students (NUS) to be sanctioned over its “poor treatment” of Jewish students.
Mann made the recommendation days after the NUS’s new president Shaima Dallali was forced to publicly apologize for past tweets offensive to the Jewish community, including tweeting the Islamic chant calling for “the army of Mohammed” to attack the Jews.
Dallali was also severely criticized for having the slogan "Death for the sake of Allah is our most exalted wish" in the bio of an old account. The phrase is used by Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.
The NUS also came under fire in March after it reportedly said that Jewish students who were outraged that anti-Israel rapper Lowkey was the headline musical act at its conference could have the option of being placed in a separate room while he performed.
According to the Times, Mann called on the government to enact tough sanctions on the student union as “escalating revelations about the continuing poor treatment of Jewish students and the lack of leadership on anti-Jewish racism from the union” are being revealed.
The revelation of Dallali’s past statements led Donelan to say that she was “deeply concerned by antisemitism within the NUS, including the remarks of the new president.”
Donelan said she was considering several possible measures, including “reporting the NUS to the Charity Commission and full suspension from all engagement with the government — to be replaced by alternative student voices — unless they take immediate steps to regain the confidence of Jewish students.”