From Labour Friends of Israel:

Co-Chair of Oxford University Labour Club resigns over its endorsement of Israel Apartheid Week; reveals evidence of antisemitic discourse; LFI Vice-Chair Louise Ellman MP “deeply disturbed” by reports

The Co-Chair of Oxford University Labour Club resigned this week following its endorsement of Israel Apartheid Week.

Alex Chalmers quit the “poisonous” student group, revealing that members of it had defended Hamas terrorist attacks on civilians, used the term “Zio” with “casual abandon” and suggested that “most accusations of antisemitism are just the Zionists crying wolf”.

In a resignation statement on Facebook, Chalmers warned that “a large proportion of both OULC and the student left in Oxford more generally have some kind of problem with Jews”.

LFI Vice-Chair, Louise Ellman MP, expressed her concern: “I am deeply disturbed by the news that Oxford University Labour Club has decided to support Israel Apartheid Week and by the revelations from Alex Chalmers about the troubling tone of the discourse in which this debate appears to have been conducted. The strong relationship between Labour Students and UJS is one of which we are all rightly proud. Comparisons between Israel and apartheid-era South Africa are a grotesque smear and the Labour Party should dissociate itself from them.”

Following Chalmers’ revelations, Oxford University JSoc revealed that members of the OULC had approached them with further evidence that the Labour student group had “become increasingly dominated by the radical student left in recent weeks and months”. Allegations included that students sang songs about rockets over Tel Aviv and discussed an “international Jewish conspiracy”. One former committee member is said to have argued that “all Jews should be expected to publicly denounce Zionism and the state of Israel, and that we should not associate with any Jew who fails to do so”.

Labour Students, the national organisation to which OULC belongs, has announced it is launching an investigation – a move welcomed by the Labour Party. In a statement, Labour Students said: “We unequivocally condemn any form of antisemitism. We are taking these allegations very seriously and will do whatever is necessary to ensure every Labour club is a safe space for Jewish students.”

The Jewish Labour Movement said the episode had “crossed the red line between legitimate discourse and incitement against Jewish students”.