NUS President Dismissed Following Antisemitism Allegations

Courtesy of the City Students Union

This past Tuesday, National Union of Students (NUS) president Shaima Dallali was sacked following accusations of antisemitism .

Back in March, The Union of Jewish Students (UJS) expressed its discontent over Dallali’s election by highlighting antisemitic social media posts. The criticism intensified enough to compel 21 former NUS presidents to write a letter expressing “serious concerns about antisemitism, the safety and treatment of Jewish students at NUS events and within [your] democracy, and the way in which NUS is responding to these concerns”. Dallali’s predecessor also came under fire when rapper Lowkey, who had been accused of antisemitism, was invited to perform at the organisation’s national conference. 

Dallali commented on the accusation in an interview with the Guardian in April: “They are not true. This idea that I don’t like Jewish people, or I’m hateful towards the Jewish community, is absolutely not true”. During the same interview, she talked at length about fearing for her safety after receiving a barrage of violent threats on social media.

In mid-May, the UK government announced they would cut ties with the NUS and halt all funding. Six days later, the organisation released a statement denouncing antisemitism and asserting all Jewish students were “welcome and safe” within the organization, and opened an investigation to “look at recent allegations as well as historic matters and broader culture. We are rightly opening our doors to scrutiny and are prepared to be accountable, to listen, and to take any and all restorative actions that are needed.”.

At the onset of the investigation, UCL’s NUS delegates released a statement regarding the controversy: “We write to express our solidarity with the NUS President-Elect, Shaima Dallali, and to inform her that the student body at UCL stands with her and her policies.” UCL statement praised Dallali’s “anti-racist principles” and point to her pro-Palestine position, rather than antisemitism, as the reason for the “relentless smear campaign, seeking to target anyone in the public domain who openly asserts anti-apartheid stances.”

The investigation closed on Tuesday when NUS communicated: “following the [investigation] into allegations of antisemitism… an independent panel has found that significant breaches of NUS’ policies have taken place. As per this finding, we have terminated the President’s contract.”

The Federation of Islamic Student Societies slammed NUS for politicizing the investigation, announcing: “FISOS is calling on all Islamic societies, friends, and those who oppose Islamophobia to organize and lead disaffiliation campaigns against the NUS on their campuses”. 

Dallali herself criticized the decision on Twitter: “On the first day of Islamophobia Awareness Month, I find out I have been dismissed through Twitter. That is unacceptable.” Furthermore, she has indicated plans to fight the ruling in court. Her legal team released the following statement: “[Ms Dallali] considers the [investigation] to have constituted – and that it continues to constitute – discriminatory treatment of her as a black Muslim woman and her beliefs concerning the plight of the Palestinian people… Ms Dallali has repeatedly made clear her opposition to all forms of racism, including antisemitism while continuing to campaign to denounce the plight of the Palestinian people.”