Malia Bouattia has done it again.
By making an executive decision to disenfranchise Jewish student societies in the NUS’s anti-racism committee, the NUS’s controversial president has further alienated members of the minority.
Even before she clinched power – sparking a ferocious wave of disaffiliation campaigns – Malia was railing against the “Zionist” establishment, displaying an ability to rile Jewish usually reserved for members of the Labour Party.
Here are her five “best” moments:
Calling her old university a “Zionist outpost”
This charming blog post from 2011, when Bouattia was studying at the University of Birmingham, keeps cropping up to do the rounds.
She made ominous reference to her alma mater’s large and well-organised J-Soc.
She called the institution “something of a Zionist outpost” and spoke of the local Jewish society being under the thumb of “Zionist activists”, who did “Orwellian” things like try to eradicate anti-Semitism.
Loving this! "Celebrating Yom Ha'atzmaut at the Zionist Outpost" aka University of Birmingham. pic.twitter.com/iSKMEvxtVN
— Ben Carr (@BenCarr_) May 12, 2016
Railing against the Zionist-led media
An easy target, on account of being totally vague. Nonetheless, Bouattia raised the spectre of shady Jews controlling the world’s media at an event in 2014:
The footage was pulled from YouTube, but was saved by a concerned onlooker, who later passed it to The Tab.
Banning Jews from choosing their own anti-racism representative
Attention had temporarily shifted from alleged NUS anti-Semitism, even if only for a few weeks – but Bouattia managed to snatch it back on Monday.
She forced through a motion about who gets to sit on the NUS’s anti-racism and anti-facism committee, which has seven members including a Jewish one.
#NUSNEC is just scared about Jewish autonomy and Jews in leadership. And this is Antisemitic
— Izzy Lenga (@izzyjengalenga) July 18, 2016
Rather than an old system, where the NUS consulted with Jewish groups to make their pick, Bouattia supported a new amendment which meant she and her NUS pals would choose instead.
The vote of the national executive committee was a tie… so Bouattia got to decide.
Rubbishing entreaties from Jewish societies
On the eve of her election as president, Bouattia was sent an open letter signed by more than 300 Jewish students asking for reassurance in light of her past positions.
Malia Bouattia, who uses the anti-Semitic trope "Zionist-led media" & refused to back a motion condemning ISIS, is the new President of NUS
— Tom Copley (@tomcopley) April 20, 2016
Her response accused the Jewish students of misconstruing her views on purpose as a cynical attack ploy, which in turned prompted its own response marking “a nadir in the Jewish relationship with the student movement.”
Saying “Zionist lobbies” are targeting Muslim students
Earlier this year, The Telegraph caught Bouattia claiming that shadowy “Zionist and neo-con lobbies” were behind the government’s Prevent anti-terror strategy.
The program, designed to stop extremism, includes demands on universities to monitor radicalism and block hate speakers – usually Islamic extremists.
It has been widely criticized by free speech activists – but seldom accused of being a front for international Jewry.
- Heat Street expects to update this post regularly as Bouattia continues to open her mouth.
