UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps’s daughter, Tabytha Shapps, expressed feeling unsafe as a Jewish student due to witnessing anti-Semitic chants at her university.
She described being intimidated by protesters shouting “from the river to the sea” and displaying placards with anti-Israel messages.
Tabytha felt uncomfortable during seminars on Israel and Palestine and withdrew from a module. (Trending: Melania Trump Breaks Silence On Tragic Family Death)
.
Shapps dropped a class after experiencing discomfort hearing students discuss, “Israeli apartheid and Israel’s agenda as a genocidal state.”
She criticized the university for not taking a clear stance on the issue and allowing dangerous attitudes to persist.
“This supposed call for ‘peace’ is therefore actually a call for terror on a campus that is home to one of the largest Jewish societies in the UK,” Shapps claimed.
The university emphasized its commitment to free speech but condemned anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
The university wrote to Shapps, “As an institution of higher education, which values academic freedom (including in particular critical independence and creativity), the university is committed to enabling free debate across a wide range of views, even where they are unpopular or controversial.”
“The university has an explicit duty in law to take such steps as are reasonably practicable to ensure that freedom of speech within the law is secured for members, students, employees and visiting speakers,” the email continued.
“This duty includes a responsibility to ensure that the use of university premises is not denied to any individual or group on the grounds of the belief or views of that individual or any member of that group or on the grounds of the policy or objectives of the group,” explained the administration.
“This does not mean, however, that the right to freedom of expression is unfettered. It is limited, for example, by laws to protect national security and public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, and to prevent the disclosure of information received in confidence.”
“The university expects speakers and those taking part in protest activities to respect those values, to be sensitive to the diversity of its inclusive community, and to show respect to all sections of that community,” wrote the school in the email.
Tabytha also highlighted parallels between her university’s approach and recent events in Ivy League institutions in the US.
She pointed out the challenges faced by Jewish students in expressing concerns about anti-Semitism.
Most Popular:
Hollywood A-Listers Revealed In Epstein Court Documents
Sports Icon Dies Suddenly At 56
Pro Sport Announces Shock Decision On Transgender Athletes
