The president of the National Union of Students (NUS) has been suspended amid a row over alleged antisemitism.

Shaima Dallali, who was elected as NUS president earlier this year, has been criticised for her past comments, some of which have been called offensive by Jewish groups.

Varsity understands that her suspension is not disciplinary action, but a procedural measure put in place while a panel meets to decide whether she will be dismissed from her post or allowed to resume her duties.

This is believed to be the first time in the NUS’s 100-year history that its president has been suspended.

The suspension follows an investigation by Rebecca Tuck KC. Tuck is also investigating allegations of antisemitism in the NUS more broadly, after years of controversy came to a head this year when Dallali was elected shortly after a row involving the invitation of the controversial rapper Lowkey to an NUS event.

Dallali has been criticised for sending a tweet saying: “Khaybar Khaybar O Jews… Muhammad’s army will return Gaza”, referencing a massacre of Jews in AD 628. The massacre is often referred in the context of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Dallali, who is 27, has since apologised for the tweet, which she wrote ten years ago. She stated that she is now “a different person”.

More recently, in 2018 Dallali wrote a controversial article in which she praised the Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi.

Al-Qaradawi has previously described the Holocaust as “divine punishment” for the Jews, whilst falsely claiming that “they exaggerated this issue”. In a 2009 sermon, al-Qaradawi called on God to kill Jews “down to the very last one.”

The cleric, who has been barred from entering France and the UK, also has a record of inciting violence against gay people.

In 2006 it was reported that when asked how he thought homosexuals should be punished, al-Qaradawi replied: “Some say we should throw them from a high place, like God did with the people of Sodom. Some say we should burn them, and so on. There is disagreement. . . . The important thing is to treat this act as a crime.”

When Dallali was elected earlier this year, The Tab asked her if she endorsed al-Qaradawi’s views, and if she regretted calling him a moral compass. Dallali issued a lengthy statement, but didn’t condemn al-Qaradawi or express regret for praising him. Instead she indicated a desire to focus on “challenges in the here and now”.

When asked for comment on the controversy, the Cambridge Students’ Union (SU) said: “We stand by our previous comments that it was right to investigate allegations of antisemitism within the NUS”.

However, the SU also reiterated its previous concerns that the government and media have co-opted “genuine student concerns about antisemitism […] to weaken student power and silence students of colour and those advocating for Palestinian rights”.

Speaking on behalf of the SU, Zaynab Ahmed, its undergraduate president, said: “[we] remain concerned that those claims [of antisemitism] are being weaponised against students of colour and support for Palestinian rights.”

Asked what comment the SU had for Jewish students troubled by Dallali’s suspension, Ahmed said: “Students affected by antisemitism are encouraged to reach out to the Students’ Advice Service and the University Counselling Service for support, advice, and guidance”.

The SU did not answer whether they would seek disaffiliation from the NUS if Tusk found that antisemitism was an institutional problem in the organisation.

However, the response has not calmed the fears of Jewish students.

When the allegations of antisemitism at the NUS, and the SU’s response to them, were put to the Cambridge Jewish society (CUJS), Jack Lubner, the group’s external affairs officer, said: “It is deeply frustrating that the SU appears unable to respond to allegations of antisemitism without claiming that it’s been ‘weaponised’, or is the result of ulterior motivations.

“The allegations against the NUS President are serious and the subject of formal, independent investigations.

“Many Jewish students, both within Cambridge and across the country, have raised their deep concerns about NUS and deserve to be taken seriously.

“As the allegations of antisemitism are largely unrelated to the Israel-Palestine conflict, it is inappropriate for the SU to refer to it in this way. The SU have made no effort to contact CUJS before releasing a statement on antisemitism, which is unacceptable. If the SU wants to change their approach, our door is always open.”

A final report from the NUS investigation is expected by the end of October.