Jewish students reveal scale of hostility on UK campuses

Jewish students at UK universities have faced assaults, bomb threats and “baby killer” slurs amid growing hostility on campus, exclusive JC research has revealed.

Forty-five per cent of respondents to an informal poll of more than 200 Jewish students on campuses across Britain said they had experienced antisemitism.

The survey, conducted between December 2023 and January 2024 in collaboration with the Union of Jewish Students (UJS), unearthed a disturbing volume of serious incidents.

Ellie Sultan, a second-year nursing student at the University of Liverpool, said she feared walking alone on campus after she was abused by masked students for having lunched with the university rabbi.Sultan said she was called a “f***ing Jew” and “baby killer” after images of her meeting the minister were posted online under the label “the Jews of Liverpool”.

She reported the incidents – the photos and the abuse – to the university, but because those involved had covered their faces with keffiyehs, authorities told her they could not help. The police and the Community Security Trust (CST) were also informed.

Some students said they had been physically assaulted because of their Jewish identity (Picture: JC/Getty)[Missing Credit]

Kit Boulton, a student at the University of East Anglia, was called a “k*ke” while working a shift at the union bar. At the University of London’s Royal Holloway, a kippah-wearing student was assaulted when a man stopped his car on the edge of campus and screamed: “Go end yourself.” The student has stopped wearing his kippah for safety, “although that’s as much about how I felt off campus with anti-Israel feelings, as on campus”, he said.

The student – who operates his Jsoc’s social media account – also noticed a bomb threat written in Hebrew posted to the society’s Instagram feed. It was reported to the police and the CST, but when the student told Royal Holloway authorities, he felt “unsupported”.

At Bristol University, Rafael Mansoor was attacked in a nightclub by students at the university’s Gaza encampment after being recognised as a Jsoc member.

“They started going on about my views [on Israel] and got more aggressive. I didn’t give any definitive answer, and then they threw a drink in my face and started throwing punches. One hit me around the side of the head and eyebrow. I got a red bump on my face,” Mansoor said.

Research previously carried out by the Community Security Trust (CST) recorded a 117 per cent increase in antisemitic incidents on university campuses in the past two academic years.

In another incident reported to the JC, a second-year history student at Royal Holloway decided to stop associating with his first-year friend group after being labelled a “Zionist Jew”. They also made Holocaust jokes at his expense. “Generally, it was an atmosphere where antisemitic jokes were normalised,” he said.

Another Bristol Jewish student was taunted by her flatmate about her “Jewish nose” and “silly little Jewish brain” and another student at the university said her flatmate had a “Jew version” of Cards Against Humanity that featured offensive jokes about Anne Frank and the Holocaust.

“I did not say anything because I did not want to cause a fuss, but I had to sit there while they were all playing it and laughing. It was terrible.”

One modern languages student at Bristol was on her year abroad in Seville from 2023 to 2024. After October 7, her professor there asked if there were any Jewish students in his class: “I could feel the weight of my ancestors telling me to be proud of my heritage, so I raised my hand.” After that, the teacher referred to her as the “Jewish girl” or “La judía” and “interrogated me about family in Israel”.

Back in Bristol for her fourth year, she sought help but was confronted by a counsellor who said that their different views on Zionism meant she could not help the student. “I left support services feeling even more alone... The loneliness led to a breakdown, and I had to go home for a while.” The student said she could not wait to leave the university.

A woman sits among tents belonging to pro-Palestinian protesters outside King's College, Cambridge on May 8, 2024 (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)Getty Images

Although most of the reported incidents occurred after Hamas’s October 7 attack and the start of the war in Gaza, some dated further back.

A student at Swansea University found bacon taped to her door in university halls in 2022. “I took it straight down and threw it in the bin. I did not want to cause any trouble. People did not like me in that flat, I was isolated,” she said.

Since then, the same student has seen “Hamas propaganda” on student society social media pages.

At Cambridge University, a student said during one dinner, a peer “asked me to turn to the side so that he could gauge the size of my nose”.

A student at Anglia Ruskin University said she was confronted by three students about her Magen David necklace. One of them said they “would rather not be surrounded by people like me”.

At Queen Mary University, London a commemoration marking the first anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attack descended into chaos when “hundreds of students” stormed the gathering. They carried banners promoting a “globalised student intifada”. A Jewish student recalled: “They surrounded us, chanting and shouting. The crowd started screaming ‘Shut them down.’ It got so bad and incited so much violence that security had to escort us away.”

Another Jewish student at the university has been targeted with shouts of “f*** Israel”.

Some Israeli students have borne the brunt of campus hostilities. A student at Kent University recalled telling a peer she was Israeli, only for him to say he didn’t know what “Israel” was, adding: “It does not exist.” “At times, I hesitate to tell people where I am from,” the student said. Other Israelis recalled a similar atmosphere.

A first-year politics student at Nottingham University was speechless when his seminar included a formal debate about Hamas. At the end of the discussion, students voted on whether “this House (our class) embraces or condemns Hamas”.

The student said: “I was shocked. As a Jewish student, I had felt relatively safe – but this came from teachers. It felt like they were minimising October 7, reducing it to a class-time debate. It was upsetting.”

A Sussex University student said that their teacher brought up the war in a lesson and “repeatedly said Israeli and Jewish culture was homicidal and evil”.

Some students said the “litmus test” for acceptance on campus now revolves around Zionism, with support for the Jewish state increasingly equated to “Nazism”.

A student at Rose Bruford College in Bexley said posters on campus “called Zionism racist and poisonous”.

A student at University College London (UCL) reported being told that “Jews are murdering innocent Palestinians” while another was told by a peer that he “hated Zionists and Israel shouldn’t exist”.

A student at Nottingham Trent University said during a student society discussion about Israel in April 2024, she was called a “Nazi sympathiser and retard”. The student felt “pushed out” of the society over the comments, adding: “I was targeted because I was open about being Jewish. I feel isolated when debates come up — I am often asked for my opinion because I am Jewish,” said the student, who knows only one other Jew on campus.

Students reported feeling ostracised online, "People are more willing to say that stuff online than to your face.” (Picture: JC/Getty)[Missing Credit]

At Aston University, Jacob Goldwater said he was accused of “supporting genocide in Gaza” adding that he believed it was because he was wearing a kippah. A student at Birmingham University said that after others discovered she was Jewish, they stopped talking to her and called her a “genocide lover”.

Another Birmingham student alleged that during a liberal arts class the lecturer “openly blamed Jews for what was going on”. The student left the class – titled “Equality and diversity within the Palestinian occupied territories” – because they were uncomfortable and stood out with a yellow ribbon for the hostages.

At UCL, a student was told that “Jews run the US Congress”. A student at King’s College London (KCL) recalled classmates discussing whether American Jewry and rabbis “control the Bronx or Hollywood” and said she was asked if Jews “do sacrifices on Shabbat”.

At Edinburgh University, an English literature student said she was repeatedly told “Jews should be punished for killing Jesus”.

At Durham University, students drew Magen Davids on freshers’ week T-shirts and made “blood libel associations”.

At Sheffield University, a philosophy, politics and economics student recalled a classmate saying: “Jews run the media to hide their wrongdoings.”

At Royal Holloway, Eliana Garfunkel, the Jewish society president, was accused of “genocide” and repeatedly heard tropes about Jews and money. “I get a lot of casual antisemitism on campus,” she said. “I’m American, and this attitude towards Jews in England has really shocked me.”

Students said anti-Jewish hate was spread on social media, including on student society pages.

A Bristol student noted: “Most people won’t be antisemitic to my face, but post anti-Israel or pro-Palestine posts on their [social media] story. Often I am the only Jew they have ever met. It’s hard because I can’t tell if they actually believe in what they post or if they are posting it as a trend.”

A medical student at Nottingham said her peers celebrated on social media after October 7 and “only stopped posting once they realised it was illegal to praise Hamas”.

Meanwhile, medical students at Leeds Universtiy asked a Jewish student “How is your friend Netanyahu?” Another Leeds medic did not “feel safe” wearing their kippah at university.

Students noted the hypocrisy of protest groups. Exeter University students said they were not allowed to display the Israeli flag “for safety reasons” but the Palestinian flag was visible across campus.

A KCL student said they had been “harassed and shouted at for holding Israel flags in counter-protest to Palestinian rally”.

At Warwick University, the Jsoc WhatsApp group was infiltrated by anonymous numbers which posted support for Hamas.

An Oxford University student said most of the issues on campus were on social media, including “justifying October 7, comparing Israel to Nazis, or sharing lies about Israel”.

Another Oxford student said they had been called a “genocidal maniac and told Jews control the media”.

Yet, some students said that issues on campus were not as bad as they had feared, noting the support they had received from their J-soc and UJS, as well as their university chaplains and Chabad.

Ella, a second-year liberal arts student at Birmingham, said she has felt “safe and secure” at university. “Students are often really negative about their experiences of antisemitism when few have actually experienced serious threat or discomfort.”

She pointed instead to social media as a source of division. “During the ‘All Eyes on Rafah’ campaign, my non-Jewish friends were posting that, while my Jewish friends were posting ‘All Eyes on the Hostages.’ It was such a divide. But that is far worse than anything I have heard in person.”

All universities mentioned were approached for comment and told the JC they condemned antisemitism and encouraged Jewish students to report all incidents.​ One student at Leeds said she thought people were “overreacting.” “This is not the 1940s, and fundamentally, student life as a Jew is really good... I feel significantly more unsafe as a woman at university than I do as a Jew.”

The JC poll, conducted between December 2024 and January 2025, found that one in four students reported severe antisemitism from fellow students, while 7 per cent said they had experienced significant Jew hate from university staff, such as lecturers or tutors.

Asked how safe they felt on campus, just 17 per cent said “very safe.” Although most felt “very” or “fairly safe,” 15 per cent – three in 20 – reported feeling unsafe. Seven per cent of respondents said they had experienced significant Jew hate from university staff, such as lecturers or tutors.

On a scale of one to 10, more than half (54 per cent) said they had not experienced any antisemitism from academic staff. The answers came in response to the questions “Have you personally experienced antisemitism at your university?” and, “If so, what happened?” Students were also asked if they had experienced antisemitism from fellow students or university staff and if they felt “safe” at university.

Professor Evelyn Welch, President of the University of Bristol, said: “Senior colleagues and I meet regularly with our Jewish Society who have our assurance that we will support and follow up any concerns or issues that are raised and these will be taken seriously.”

Professor Richard Black, Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Liverpool said: “We are deeply troubled at the reports of antisemitism. We are meeting regularly with our Guild of Students’ Jewish Society and other Jewish students and will continue to work to address the concerns they raise.”

Nick Barratt, Executive Director at Royal Holloway, said: “We believe that we all have a role to play in maintaining a peaceful, respectful, inclusive and welcoming community, on and off campus. We are proud of the empathy that our students bring to our community each day. It is their commitment to respect and social purpose that has enabled representatives from the Jewish Society, Islamic Society, Arab Society and Friends of Palestine society to come together over the past year, and work towards exploring areas of shared experience and understanding across our campuses.”

A Swansea University spokesperson said: “This reported behaviour is abuse and is not tolerated in our university community.”

A KCL spokesperson added: "We continue to engage with and offer our support to our Jewish, Israeli, and wider student societies, who have shared their concerns for safety, both on campus and across London more generally, and in response we have enhanced security measures to keep our community safe on campus.”

A Kent University spokesman said: “We are very sorry to hear that one of our students has been subjected to this. There is no place for antisemitism in universities or across society.”

A Queen Mary spokesperson said: “We have robust procedures in place to investigate any such complaint and take action as appropriate. Since the beginning of the current crisis in the Middle East, we have consistently urged our diverse community of students and staff to respect each other’s different beliefs and points of view, and to support each other with compassion and empathy.”

A UEA spokesperson said: “Incidents reported on campus in March 2024 were swiftly dealt with and no incidents of a similar nature have been reported since.”

University of Birmingham spokesperson said: “We have a strong relationship with our Jewish student community through the Jewish Student Society and Multi-Faith Chaplaincy… Everyone has the right to go about their business safely and free from intimidation or harassment.”

A Durham University spokesperson added: “All of our students are always required to uphold the conduct policies they agreed to on taking up their places with us, and where there is evidence that student conduct breaches these policies, the university can take – and has taken – action.”