The executive board for the largest student union in the United Kingdom is under fire for joining the boycott campaign against Israel, after the council voted down a previous measure to condemn the Islamic State late last year.
The British National Union of Students’ National Executive Council (NUS-NEC) passed a resolution on Tuesday supporting the anti-Israel boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement, which seeks to socially and economically isolate the Jewish state.
The NUS-NEC opposed a motion last October denouncing the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, and supporting the Kurdish forces fighting the terror group, after some members argued the resolution was Islamophobic and warmongering.
Tom Wilson, a fellow at the British-based Henry Jackson Society, slammed the student union’s positions as "obviously ridiculous" and a "total moral inversion."
"While actively rejecting a motion to condemn ISIS, the NUS has instead singled out the only liberal society in the region for boycotts," said Wilson. "The boycott movement has never been about promoting peace or fairness but rather about ending the state of Israel."
Wilson also questioned what was driving the council’s decisions.
"Of course, those voting in favor of [the Israel boycott] motion are perfectly well aware that in addition to being a pro-Western democracy, Israel is also the world’s only Jewish state," said Wilson. "One wonders which of those two things these people find more objectionable."
The vote on Tuesday passed the executive committee 19 to 4, with one abstention, according to JTA. The NUS-NEC reportedly represents 600 students unions across the U.K.
This is the second time the executive committee has voted to support the anti-Israel BDS movement in the past year. The Tuesday decision drew criticism from other British university and student groups, as well as from Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Union of Jewish Students (UJS), which says it represents 6,500 Jewish students across the U.K. and Ireland, called the BDS vote "disturbing."
"This motion passing divides student groups, undermines interfaith relations and suffocates progressive voices for peace on both sides," said the UJS in a statement. "It is disturbing that supposed representatives of students throughout the UK have joined a movement that at the core is not progressive or constructive in supporting two states for two peoples."
Universities U.K., the United Kingdom university representative body, also issued a statement rejecting the BDS vote.
"[T]he board of Universities U.K. wishes to confirm its previously stated position that it is firmly opposed to any academic boycott of Israeli universities," said the group.
During a meeting with the Canadian foreign minister Rob Nicholson in Jerusalem on Tuesday, Netanyahu said that the union’s position on Israel should be seen in the context of its prior vote on the Islamic State.
"They boycott Israel but they refuse to boycott ISIS," said Netanyahu, according to YNet. "That tells you everything you want to know about the BDS movement. They condemn Israel and do not condemn ISIS; they condemn themselves."