Antisemitism on University Campuses

Baroness Ludford Excerpts

Wednesday 7th May 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Ludford (LD)]

My Lords, I will quickly soon turn to the topic of this vital debate, for which I thank the noble Lord, Lord Cryer, but I hope that noble Lords will indulge me if I make reference to our late colleague Lord Etherton, whose sad death at only 73 was announced today by the Lord Speaker.

Joshua Rozenberg reports that, when Lord Etherton gave a lecture at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem,

“in confident, fluent Hebrew, he told the story of his grandparents, arriving in the East End of London from the pale of settlement in Russia during the early years of the 20th century only to find more antisemitism in Britain. ‘My paternal great-uncle persuaded his parents to change the family name,’ he said. ‘And so Schliama Borrenstein became Seddon Llewellyn Delroy Ryan Etherton.’”—

at least it was not Del Boy.

“His great-grandparents, he added, would have been dumbfounded to see him delivering a lecture in Israel as the second most senior judge of England and Wales”.

So we have had some great progress in our country and society, which actually makes it even more shocking that, following the horrendous terrorist attack on 7 October perpetrated against Israeli victims by Hamas, a dramatic further increase in antisemitic incidents was seen in the UK as well as elsewhere. We have heard the figures tonight given by the noble Lord, Lord Cryer, and others, recorded by the Union of Jewish Students, the Community Security Trust and the report today from StandWithUs UK—all of them very valuable.

Some of the antisemitic behaviour was associated with pro-Palestinian marches, with one of the most common forms of antisemitic harassment being students experiencing intimidation around protest events on campus. Expressions of support for Hamas and other proscribed terror organisations have been routine, with students being told, “Hamas had their reasons”, “If I was Palestinian, I would join Hamas”, and, “There is no space for Zionists on campus, not now, not ever”. Some were even told, “Your people should not be alive” —I think that by “your people” they did not mean Israelis but Jews.

There has been some criticism of the definition and examples of antisemitism produced by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. The Jerusalem declaration was drafted in response, with the assertion that because the IHRA definition was

“unclear in key respects and widely open to different interpretations, it has caused confusion and generated controversy, hence weakening the fight against antisemitism”.

That declaration, which has academics in UK universities as signatories, asserts that neither

“Criticizing or opposing Zionism as a form of nationalism”

nor supporting

“arrangements that accord full equality to all inhabitants ‘between the river and the sea’”,

are antisemitic. That is already arguable, but when marchers shout, “From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free”, this is not some calm academic dialogue about constitutional arrangements; it is an intimidating call for the destruction of the State of Israel.

The IHRA definition stresses that

“criticism of Israel similar to that levelled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic”,

giving ample scope for criticism of any current Government or their actions. The bottom line is that freedom of expression is not a justification for harassment and that all points of view should be able to be expressed even when there is strong political disagreement relating to Israel and the Middle East.

Can the Minister say whether her discussions with vice-chancellors will result in serious and determined action to eradicate antisemitism on campuses while championing academic freedom—including in discussing Israel, the Middle East and Gaza, which I believe is absolutely possible?