Antisemitic foreign students in the UK must be deported, British Conservative politicians wrote to Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson.
The politicians’ letter was first viewed by The Telegraph on Saturday.
The politicians raised concerns about the “deeply troubling” rise in antisemitism on university campuses, and called on the Labour government to use existing powers under the Immigration Act 1971 to revoke the visas of any foreign citizens who harassed or intimidated members of the Jewish community, expressed antisemitic views, or voiced support for antisemitism.
'Too many institutions have decided to turn a blind eye'
“Too many institutions that have spent years suppressing legitimate free speech and debate in the name of ‘diversity and inclusion’ have decided to turn a blind eye to genuine harassment and intimidation when it is directed against Jewish people,” said the letter.
“Failure to act sends a dangerous message to Jewish students and academics that their safety is not valued, and to perpetrators that they can harass Jewish students and staff with impunity... We can, and must, do better. Enough is enough.”
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp wrote on X/Twitter: “We must stand with this country’s Jewish community and fight with all our resolve and energy the ancient evil of antisemitism wherever it is found.”
He added that more must be done than simply calling out extremism, and therefore called for “anyone expressing extremist views or racial or religious hatred of any kind, including antisemitism, who is not a British citizen to be removed from this country.”
On Thursday, Philp and other Tory politicians, including Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott and Shadow Communities Secretary James Cleverly, met with representatives of British Jews to discuss campus antisemitism. The roundtable was facilitated by the Jewish Leadership Council and contained the testimonies of Jewish students.
“We thanked the Conservative front-benchers for their allyship and asked that the party adopt and advocate for the community’s comprehensive plan for action on antisemitism,” commented president of the Board of Deputies Phil Rosenberg, who was present. “The harrowing antisemitic experiences recounted by Jewish students demand a response. We face a must-win fight for the soul of our nation against a growing extremist threat from Islamists, far Right & far Left.”
The JLC added, “There needs to be a cross-government effort to deliver meaningful change so that Jewish students and staff can be on campus without having to face abuse and discrimination.”
On October 5, a few days after the terror attack on the Manchester synagogue, Philp promised that antisemitic immigrants would be deported from the UK if the Conservative Party was re-elected.
Both Philp and party leader Kemi Badenoch spoke strongly of their support for the British Jewish community and their zero-tolerance policy for antisemitism, racism, and extremism.
“If a foreign citizen expresses racial hatred, including antisemitism, or supports extremism or terrorism, I’ll tell you this as shadow home secretary, I’ll deport them,” said Philp at the time.