Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke about the need for an antisemitism task force to tackle antisemitism in UK education.
Last Wednesday during a series of Prime Minister Questions in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Johnson talked about the need for dealing with antisemitism on UK campuses, claiming that it has been tolerated for too long.
He made these claims in response to a question put to him by Vice-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Against Antisemitism MP Andrew Percy.
„We heard from Jewish students recently who are suffering record antisemitic attacks on university campuses including allegations of them being marked down by their own professors,” said Percy. „This is completely outrageous and we would expect the National Union of Students (NUS) to be on their side, but instead of helping them, the NUS has been inviting someone who has been engaging in antisemitic conspiracy theories to a conference.”
„Our universities for far too long have been tolerant of casual, or indeed systematic antisemitism and that’s why it is very important that we now have rapid and irreversible change,” Johnson replied. „But it’s also important that we have an antisemitism task force devoted to rooting out antisemitism in education at all levels.”
A November report showed that in 2021, antisemitism on UK campuses rose by 59% from 2020.
In February, UK Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said that the issue needed urgent attention, pledging to tackle antisemitism on university campuses.
Photo credit: Number 10, Flickr
More News
