{"id":5794,"date":"2025-07-24T08:47:57","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T07:47:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/?p=5794"},"modified":"2025-07-26T22:45:22","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T21:45:22","slug":"nus-threatens-to-ban-pro-palestine-student-officers-from-training-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/news\/2025\/07\/24\/nus-threatens-to-ban-pro-palestine-student-officers-from-training-conference\/","title":{"rendered":"NUS threatens to ban pro-Palestine student officers from conference"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The National Union of Students (NUS) has threatened to ban elected student officers from a conference unless they remove their signatures from a pro-Palestine open letter.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1okG6sJf1vHGMsH0SWXB7y0NldDOwFV_8-RakuJxopgY\/\">letter<\/a>, signed by 86 student officers and 120 students groups in Britain, asks NUS to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Condemn the \u2018plausible genocide\u2019 in Gaza<\/li>\n<li>Call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, and humanitarian access<\/li>\n<li>Rescind the IHRA definition of antisemitism<\/li>\n<li>Condemn \u2018Israel\u2019s illegal apartheid\u2019 and \u2018occupation of Palestinian territories\u2019<\/li>\n<li>Due diligence and disclosure of officials and groups \u2018with ties to settler-colonial regimes\u2019<\/li>\n<li>Lead a national ethical divestment campaign<\/li>\n<li>Defend right to protest against Zionism, and protect student protesters from expulsion<\/li>\n<li>Investigate Islamophobia and anti-Black racism in the NUS<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A leaked email <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1kGxekizyaMz-tnXvsA5glcIBxbj9LCG7\/\">reveals<\/a> how NUS officials enlisted the help of Students&#8217; Union chief executives to pressure elected student officers into removing their signatures from the petition:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We ask that you discuss this matter with [student officers] and explore whether they are willing to withdraw their support \u2026 We&#8217;d appreciate it if you could get back to us by 5pm Wednesday 23rd July 2025 so that we are able to confirm their attendance at Lead and Change.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The threat is clear: student officers who refuse to withdraw their signatures may face a ban on attending the leadership conference, denying them training and networking opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>NUS accuse signatories of the petition of supporting antisemitism and spreading misinformation.<\/p>\n<p>The organisation says that opposing IHRA &#8211; a controversial definition of antisemitism &#8211; is antisemitic, given that a majority of British Jews support it.<\/p>\n<p>In recent years, academics at many institutions including University of Aberdeen have favoured the JDA definition of antisemitism over IHRA, since it allows for criticism of the Israeli state.<\/p>\n<p>The leaked memo also labels requests for a review of \u201cZionist-funded societies and individuals\u201d and \u201cstudent groups that invite the presence\/participation of IDF-trained Israeli emissaries\u201d as antisemitic, stating that military conscription is mandatory in Israel.<\/p>\n<p>Petition authors \u2018Not My NUS\u2019 have <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1xqhUfjmbxzBDKBAWRb8M8JO-Zr78l8rE\/\">responded<\/a> that \u201cthe deliberate conflation of Jewishness with Zionism is one we outrightly reject\u201d and pointed out the Jewish signatories of the petition.<\/p>\n<p>NUS also claimed that the petition creators harassed NUS leaders on social media by posting images of dead children @-ing NUS President Amira Campbell alongside the caption \u201cdo you feel no shame in your silence?\u201d, and posting pictures of NUS Board member Noah Katz on a trip to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Not My NUS\u2019 responded, \u201cwe unequivocally reject NUS\u2019 allegations, and feel this is an attempt to pacify and silence the Palestine solidarity movement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It is unclear if signatories who refuse to remove their name will be barred from the \u2018Lead and Change\u2019 summit at Birmingham University next week.<\/p>\n<p>Antonia Listrat, elected student leader at Birmingham University Guild of Students, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecanary.co\/uk\/analysis\/2025\/07\/19\/nus-palestine\/\">told<\/a><i> The<\/i> <i>Canary<\/i>:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe NUS has reached out to Student Unions and elected officers with threats to intimidate them into removing their signatures. Student trustees have been threatened with investigation from the Charity Commission, and even with losing their jobs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow I am not sure if I will be able to pay my rent in the coming months. But I will not remove my signature. In times like this, we all need to show moral courage, especially in the face of unjust repression.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Birmingham activists have announced protests at the Lead and Change summit to \u201creject the shameful repression and cowardice of the NUS.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In 2023, an investigation found that NUS had failed to challenge antisemitism within its ranks.<\/p>\n<p>The NUS did not respond for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The National Union of Students (NUS) has threatened to ban elected student officers from a conference unless they remove their signatures from a pro-Palestine open letter. The letter, signed by 86 student officers and 120 students groups in Britain, asks NUS to: Condemn the \u2018plausible genocide\u2019 in Gaza Call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":5795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","iawp_total_views":338,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[1330,602,600,349],"wf_post_folders":[181],"class_list":{"0":"post-5794","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-free-speech","9":"tag-national-union-of-students","10":"tag-nus","11":"tag-palestine"},"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Fred Byrne","author_link":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/author\/marketing\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Screenshot-2025-07-24-at-02.01.31-e1753343219257-211x300.png","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/s\/news\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">News<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">News<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/s\/news\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">free speech<\/a>","<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/s\/news\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">National Union of Students<\/a>","<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/s\/news\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">NUS<\/a>","<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/s\/news\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Palestine<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">free speech<\/span>","<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">National Union of Students<\/span>","<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">NUS<\/span>","<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Palestine<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 1 year ago","modified":"Updated 1 year ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on 24 July 2025","modified":"Updated on 26 July 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on 24 July 2025 08:47","modified":"Updated on 26 July 2025 22:45"},"featured_img_caption":"Leaked NUS email, page 1 of 6 (Source: Not My NUS)","series_order":"","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5794"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5805,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5794\/revisions\/5805"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5794"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaudie.co.uk\/wpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=5794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}