Antisemitism on University Campuses

Baroness Foster of Oxton Excerpts

Wednesday 7th May 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Foster of Oxton (Con)]

My Lords, how did we get here? It has been 19 months since the 7 October massacres in Israel and the slaughter of hundreds of men, women and children. Some 250 hostages were taken, and 59 are still held in the underground tunnels of Gaza by Hamas psychopaths and their cohorts.

On the streets of London and the UK, we have witnessed antisemitism on a level that I thought I would never see—especially 80 years since VE Day. Islamic extremism is on the increase. Bullying and harassment of, and attacks on, our Jewish friends and their supporters are rife. Intimidation outside synagogues and other meeting places is a daily occurrence. The call for the extermination of all Jews and the destruction of an ally state is ignored by those who are elected to protect our very being.

It was only a matter of time until it would spill over on to the university campuses. Rent-a-mob is always predictable: they set up camps and continue to vandalise buildings and attack Jewish students and their friends. They disrupt lectures and do not hesitate to threaten anyone who stands up to them. Some of us here have called on the police and Home Secretaries to intervene, but to no avail. The hate protests continue unabated on our streets and on campuses.

At the University of Leeds, the Jewish chaplain Rabbi Deutsch and his family were forced into hiding, with threats of rape and murder, before leaving the country. But it is not only Leeds; other world-class British universities are as culpable. Their chancellors, vice-chancellors and administrations have not lifted a finger to stop this abuse. Numerous examples are outlined in the excellent report by StandWithUs, which has already been mentioned.

We, the taxpayers, fund our universities to the tune of £24 billion a year, yet we are expected to turn a blind eye to what is happening. Those in charge have deliberately ignored the fact that they are answerable to us, and to the parents and students who expect the authorities to ensure that their safeguarding and security are always paramount. The fact that they have abrogated this responsibility should preclude them from being anywhere near the education system, and they should be removed immediately. One of the reasons for their actions is because they receive millions in overseas funding and do not wish to offend their donors, some of whom openly support the actions of terrorists.

Let us be absolutely clear: Hamas is a proscribed terrorist group, which, along with others, is being openly supported. It is an illegal and criminal offence to ignore those supporting its actions. I therefore call on the Minister to put in place steps to revoke the visas of foreign students carrying out these acts and deport them immediately, and, for those who are British citizens, to invoke the full force of the law by removing them from the universities they attend, as is happening in the USA.

Finally, with rights come responsibilities, and those bringing our fantastic universities into disrepute should not be allowed to do so. Mixed messages on Israel do not help, so it is time that this Government stopped pussyfooting around and put a stop to this. History has ways of repeating itself—and, in this case, that cannot be allowed to happen.