A statement from the Students' Union addressing the conflict in the Middle East and recent acts of anti-Semitism on campus.
Royal Holloway Students’ Union stands in solidarity with those students affected by the ongoing violence in Gaza and the West Bank and implores the attacks to stop.
Within our own community, we have recently witnessed abhorrent anti-Semitic abuse and discrimination against Jewish students. This abuse has taken place through online social media platforms as well as the placement of an Israel flag with a Swastika replacing the Star of David on the library terrace. We are appalled and strongly condemn these actions. The College are aware of these events and will follow the formal disciplinary process in order to investigate these matters and reach appropriate outcomes.
Our priority is always the safety of our students. Opposition to the actions of the Israeli government is not justification for prejudice, racial targeting or hate crime, be that aimed at either our Jewish or Muslim members, and the Students’ Union will always take a zero tolerance approach in manners related to this.
We support the National Union of Students' most recent statement: “Anti-Semitism masquerading as Palestinian solidarity does nothing to advance liberation for Palestinians”. And we want to reinforce the message that there is no place for Islamophobia or anti-Semitism in our communities.
We recognise that the tragic events in the Middle East will have caused distress to many of our members and we want you to know we are here to support you in any way we can. We encourage students that have been affected to reach out to the College’s Student Advisory & Wellbeing team via supportingyou@rhul.ac.uk. Equally, within our own services, the SU Advice Centre is available to support students and provide impartial advice to any student in need.
If any student has been the victim of, or witnessed a hate crime, we urge you to please report it through the University’s anonymous reporting platform RH BeHeard. If you wish to make a named report directly to the College you may do so by contacting them via wellbeing@royalholloway.ac.uk. You should also consider reporting the matter to the police.
Support Services
Any students affected by the situation can get support from the following teams and links:
Student Wellbeing
Student Counselling
Multifaith Chaplaincy
Advice Centre
Union of Jewish Students
*Please note, some Royal Holloway systems have been experiencing power issues that have affected access to the student intranet. A number of the links above will work when the intranet is back up and running.