An independent investigation into antisemitism within the National Union of Students (NUS) has found that the organisation failed to protect Jewish members from “numerous instances” of antisemitism over the last decade. The report found that Jewish students have been “subjected to harassment” while NUS policies have been breached.

Complaints of antisemitism were viewed within the NUS as being made in “bad faith to try and avert pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel policy advocacy”. The report concludes that “this has resulted in antisemitism, as well as hostility towards Jews, which has not been challenged sufficiently robustly or proactively by NUS”.

The Cambridge Student Union (SU) had previously welcomed an investigation into antisemitism within the NUS, but said that the government and media had exploited “genuine student concerns about antisemitism… to weaken student power and silence students of colour and those advocating for Palestinian rights”.

After the suspension of the NUS president Shaima Dallali in September, SU undergraduate president Zaynab Ahmed reaffirmed this position and said: “[we] remain concerned that those claims [of antisemitism] are being weaponised against students of colour and support for Palestinian rights.”

The report shows that the NUS ignored and dismissed antisemitism and failed to tackle or recognise its presence amongst pro-Palestinian groups.

The report is based on interviews with 46 groups and individuals and finds that the recommendations from “numerous” previous investigations into antisemitism in the NUS had been implemented consistently. This is the eighth investigation into antisemitism within the NUS since 2005.

The report illustrates numerous distressing instances of antisemitism on university campuses and within NUS spaces.

In 2016, the NUS National Executive Committee (NEC) met to discuss whether to remove the Jewish position on NUS’ anti-racism and anti-fascism committee. A member of the NEC said that this was not “the final solution” and then refused to rephrase the point. No NUS staff members intervened.

The report describes how Jewish students had been left “personally shaking and almost in tears” and in “a state of significant distress” due to harassment in the NUS and a culture of by-standing by NUS staff.

Students described being “reduced to being only ‘the Jew’ in the room” and being “treated as a pariah at NUS events”. Students said that they were seen as “answerable for Israel, responsible to call out any antisemitism, seen to represent every single Jew in the student population, and stripped of any other characteristics”.

Students said that they had been told they were acting out of allegiance to the Israeli government or Mossad. The report found that “regardless of what their personal views were about Zionism or Israel or Palestinian rights, assumptions were made about them [students] because they were Jewish. This stereotyping is discriminatory”.

The investigation, by Rebecca Tuck KC, also considers the events of the 2022 NUS National Conference, at which controversial rapper ‘Lowkey’ was invited to perform. ‘Lowkey’ has a history of supporting antisemitic conspiracy theories about the “Israel lobby” and appearing with other antisemitic individuals. The investigation finds that the NUS “did not carry out ‘due diligence’ to consider whether performers shared the values of their organisation”. Tuck also concludes that it was “inappropriate and unsatisfactory” to suggest that Jewish attendees find an alternative space during the performance.

The report also finds that an inappropriately short data retention policy at the NUS hindered the investigation and meant that the implementation of previous reports’ recommendations had been “inconsistent”.

The report concludes with eleven recommendations for the NUS to follow. These include the introduction of regular antisemitism training for NUS staff and officers and the production of educational materials on antisemitism and the Israel-Palestine conflict. Tuck also recommends the revival of the committee on anti-racism and anti-fascism and an improvement in the organisation’s policy on record keeping.

A spokesperson for the NUS apologised and said it would implement the report’s recommendations. The NUS said that the “detailed and shocking account of antisemitism within the student movement” is a “truly difficult read for all of us but we welcome the clarity it brings to enable us to act with confidence to tackle antisemitism head on”.

A spokesperson for Cambridge University Jewish Society (CUJS) welcomed the publication and told Varsity “it has shown that generations of Jewish students were subject to discrimination and anti-Jewish racism, due to a hostile culture and widespread failings”.

They continued: “NUS should represent all of the UK’s students, with no exception. The testimonies outlined in the report made for difficult reading, and sadly, reflect the experience of many of Cambridge’s Jewish students, not just within the NUS, but within the wider landscape of student politics too.”

CUJS said: “We expect that the report’s recommendations are implemented swiftly and meaningfully, so that Jewish students feel welcome and valued within the national student community. As ever, any Jewish students in need of support should feel free to reach out to us, the Union of Jewish Students or the Community Security Trust.”

The president of the Union of Jewish Students, Joel Rosen, said that NUS “has failed generations of Jewish students” and called the report a “searing indictment of anti-Jewish racism at the heart of student politics”.

Rosen continued: “It is vital that this report is translated into meaningful and immediate action. All eleven recommendations in the report should be implemented. We now need to see a fundamental change with NUS’ culture and Jewish students will judge them on their actions.”

Cambridge SU will provide a comment on the report in the coming days.