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🇮🇱 Israel /Culture & Society

Threatened with bombs, almost pushed down stairs: UK Jewish students testify about antisemitism

From Jerusalem Post · (6h ago) English Critical tone

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

TLDR

  • A new report by StandWithUs UK reveals a significant increase in antisemitism on UK university campuses, with academic staff actively participating in hostility towards Jewish students.
  • Jewish students reported escalating racism, threats of violence including bomb threats, and instances of physical and verbal abuse, with some universities failing to adequately address the incidents.
  • The report highlights testimonies of students feeling unsafe, being targeted with threats, and facing academic penalties for displaying Israeli symbols, indicating a systemic failure to protect Jewish students.

The findings of the StandWithUs UK 2026 Voice of Students report paint a deeply disturbing picture of the environment Jewish students face on British campuses. This is not merely a matter of isolated incidents; the report details a disturbing trend of academic staff not only tolerating but actively participating in the infrastructure of hostility against Jewish students. This complicity, as detailed in the testimonies, transforms what should be safe spaces for learning into environments of fear and intimidation.

When a jihadist Instagram account threatened to blow up our Jewish Society, the university treated the report as a joke.

— Royal Holloway studentDescribing the university's inadequate response to a severe threat against the Jewish Society and himself.

The testimonies themselves are harrowing. Students recount receiving direct bomb threats, being physically assaulted, and facing academic repercussions for expressing their identity or support for Israel. The chilling account of a Royal Holloway student, whose Jewish Society received a bomb threat and who himself was targeted with personal threats, only to have the university dismiss the report as a joke and refuse to cooperate with police, is particularly egregious. This suggests a systemic failure in safeguarding, where the safety of Jewish students is not taken seriously, and perpetrators are not held accountable.

I no longer feel safe on campus. I am constantly aware of being watched. I cannot leave my accommodation without noticing hostile looks. Simple acts - walking to lectures, attending meetings, wearing a kippah - now feel risky.

— Jewish studentExpressing the pervasive fear and anxiety experienced by Jewish students on campus.

What is particularly alarming is the normalization of anti-Zionist rhetoric that crosses the line into antisemitism, with some lecturers defending actions like hostage-taking. This intellectual and moral failing at the heart of academia is fostering an environment where Jewish students feel isolated, constantly watched, and at risk for simply existing on campus. The report serves as a stark warning that the UK's universities are not only failing to address anti-Zionism as modern antisemitism but are actively avoiding accountability, leaving Jewish students vulnerable and unsupported.

A professor at Bangor University physically attacked a Jewish student while shouting accusations of "baby killer."

— StandWithUs UK reportDetailing an instance of physical assault by academic staff against a Jewish student.
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Originally published by Jerusalem Post. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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