PM tells university leaders they have duty to keep Jewish students safe

University leaders should take "personal responsibility" for protecting Jewish students on campus, Rishi Sunak said to vice-chancellors yesterday at an antisemitism roundtable hosted at Downing Street.

- Richard Adams

Sunak told the meeting of 17 higher education institutions from England and Scotland, along with Jewish student and community groups, that it was imperative for universities to "remain bastions of tolerance, where debate takes place with respect for others and where every student feels safe". The meeting was convened by the prime minister after the proliferation of student encampments in protest at the fighting in Gaza, with concerns that Jewish students could be intimidated or harassed.

Edward Isaacs, the president of the Union of Jewish Students (UJS), told the roundtable that there had been an "unprecedented rise in campus antisemitism" since Hamas's attacks on Israel on 7 October last year, describing it as "a year like no other" for Jewish students.

"This truly has been the worst antisemitism crisis on campus that we have seen for a generation, and its impacts run deep," Isaacs said, detailing the hundreds of calls received by the UJS's welfare hotline.