The role of the National Union of Students is to represent "the national voice of students". An organisation that has recently come in for a lot of criticism, NUS was last night hijacked by an extreme minority and managed to further damage their credibility.
The motion passed by the NUS National Executive can be viewed here: http://ujs.org.uk/news/664/nus-slammed-for-divisive-undemocratic-anti-israel-policy/
At a time when Student Unions across the country, and their affiliated societies, have been working hard to create a positive pro-peace forum on the issue of the Israel-Palestinian conflict, NUS has put a major dent in its work to foster good campus relations.
Amongst other points, the new policy vows to build links between British universities and the Islamic University of Gaza, set up by the not-so-moderate Sheikh Ahmed Yassin of Hamas, and send an NUS delegation on a future convoy, similar to the ones run by the terror-affiliated yet supposedly 'peace activists' IHH, to the Gaza Strip.
One of NUS' LGBT officers, Vicki Baars, strongly praised last night's event, calling it "a real victory". Hmmm... let's see how the LGBT delegation get on with Hamas.
It was only due to the poor turnout of moderate students at the meeting (only 20/50 elected members were present) that about 10 extreme activists were able to take advantage of this and reject the call for a two-state solution - the the only viable peaceful Middle East solution that is on offer and, furthermore, the desire of the majority of the region. With such a small number of attendees, the legitimacy of the decision is, at the very least, highly questionable.
By passing such a radical motion, comparing Israel to the 'Apartheid regime' of South Africa, the NUS Executive Council have made a mockery of their role as representatives (a term I would use loosely) of seven million students. Without doubt, the University of Birmingham Guild of Students has been a fine example in recent years of concentrating on student issues and distancing themselves from matters such as this one. Maybe this is an example that NUS ought to follow.
by Eytan Halon
No comments:
Post a Comment