62 No. 73 JUSTICE since October 7, 2023 builds upon decades of radical leftwing antisemitism and the increasing foothold of radical Islamist antisemitism in UK universities.9 While many within such circles strenuously deny harboring animosity towards “Jews as Jews,” our research demonstrates that traditional antisemitic tropes are commonly projected onto Israel.10 But just as demonizing Jews is antisemitic, so is demonizing Israel – the only Jewish state – and so too is denying Jews the right of self-determination,11 which every other people has or can legitimately aspire to. Yet in UK universities, Israel and Zionism are regularly denounced in a way that is not applied to other nation-states or forms of nationalism. For example, even if the historically inaccurate claim that Israel is a “settler colonial” state is accepted, it is notable that no other “settler colonial” state – the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and so on – faces a global campaign for its destruction.12 All of this is occurring within the context of several legal duties that bind UK universities. UK universities have (a) a general legal duty to protect freedom of expression on campus; (b) a duty to prevent discrimination and harassment based on protected characteristics; and (c) a university-specific institutional duty to protect the academic freedom of research and study. Currently, UK universities are meeting neither (b) nor (c) in their response to the menace to Jewish students and academic staff posed by antisemitism, particularly anti-Israel antisemitism. That is, they are neither preventing discrimination and harassment, nor protecting freedom of research and study. In this article, we first explore the legal and political duties of UK universities regarding combatting and addressing antisemitism on campuses – protecting Jewish staff and students from harassment and discrimination, in the context of general duties of ensuring freedom of speech, academic freedom, and equality and diversity. The next section focuses on data gathered about the different manifestations and impact of antisemitism on Jewish students since October 7, 2023. Lastly, we provide three general conclusions about these issues within universities and across the higher education sector. 2. UK Universities’ Legal Duties UK universities are bound by a range of legal duties in relation to speech on campus. First is the general legal obligation to protect freedom of expression (or free speech). The rights to freedom of expression and freedom of thought, conscience/belief and religion are all protected by both the European Convention of Human Rights13 and the Human Rights Act 1998.14 More specifically for universities, Section 43 of the Education (no. 2) Act 1986 obligates universities to “secure” freedom of speech “within the law… for members, students and employees of the establishment and for visiting speakers.” Universities are also required under the Equality Act 2010 not to engage in, instruct, cause, induce or aid in discrimination against or harassment of their students or staff with protected characteristics. Moreover, they are liable for such conduct on the part of their employees or agents unless they show that they took all reasonable steps to prevent it. Jewish identity is a legally protected characteristic on the grounds of both race and religion, Israeli nationality is protected on the grounds of race. The Equality Act 2010 also deems it unlawful for individuals to face discrimination or harassment on the basis of holding certain religious or philosophical “beliefs,” which are determined on a case-by-case basis. In 2023, an employment tribunal ruled in Miller v. University of Bristol that anti-Zionism is one such protected belief, although the scope of the ruling beyond the facts of that case remains difficult to predict.15 The 8. This reflects, more broadly, the longstanding impact of the anti-fascist movement in British society throughout recent history. See Nigel Copsey, ANTI-FASCISM IN BRITAIN (Routledge 2017). 9. See Johnson, supra note 4. 10. ICPG, supra note 3. 11. This right is found in the purposes and principles of the UN Charter (1945) and is further enshrined legally in Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1976) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1976), which jointly codify the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). 12. Adam Kirsch, ON SETTLER COLONIALISM: IDEOLOGY, VIOLENCE AND JUSTICE (W.W. Norton & Co. 2024); see also Simon Sebag Montefiore, “The Decolonization Narrative Is Dangerous and False,” THE ATLANTIC (Oct. 27, 2023), available at https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/ archive/2023/10/decolonization-narrative-dangerousand-false/675799/; see also Derek J. Penslar, “Is Zionism a colonial movement?” in COLONIALISM AND THE JEWS 275-300 (Ethan B. Katz, Lisa Moses Leff & Maud S. Mandel eds., Indiana University Press, 2017). 13. Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms art. 9, 10, Nov. 4, 1950, 213 U.N.T.S. 221, as amended by Protocols Nos. 11 and 14. 14. Human Rights Act 1998, c. 42, art. 9, 10 (UK). 15. Miller v. University of Bristol, [2023] UKET 1400780/2022.
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