Anti-Semitism: University Campus Incidents

Debate between Lord Mendelsohn and Baroness Healy of Primrose Hill

Thursday 21st January 2021 Grand Committee

[Lord Mendelsohn (Lab) [V]]

My Lords, alarming levels of anti-Semitism on campus are not new. It has been a profound problem since the mid-1970s. When I was a student in the 1980s, Jewish societies were being banned, at the instigation of those who saw themselves as progressive and liberal. These things—and many of the same people—played a central role more recently when my own party, the Labour Party, went through its shameful period. The problem on campus is more pronounced and, as the report attests, illustrates that for too long too little has been done to tackle students being radicalised and recruited to extremist ideas and politics with anti-Semitism at their centre, and the increasing role that academics play in propagation and denial of the problem. We need a more profound focus on the roots of such extremism and a more comprehensive view on how we tackle it. Will the Minister, whom I welcome and whose maiden speech I look forward to, consider asking the Commission for Countering Extremism to look into this, with a view to developing effective tools and techniques to guarantee the safety of Jewish students and stop a new generation of anti-Semites graduating from our colleges and universities?

[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Baroness Healy of Primrose Hill) (Lab)]

I remind noble Lords that all Back-Bench speeches are limited to one minute.