#Shaima Dallali

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Former President National Union of Students (NUS), Shaima Dallali. "I Am An Anti-Zionist 🐖 🐷 🐖 🐗, And A Proud Pro-Palestinian.”

Former NUS President Settles With Union Over Antisemitism Claims

Shaima Dallali, ousted as NUS president in 2022, said to have accepted ‘substantial’ settlement before tribunal

— Richard Adams, Education Editor | May 07, 2024 | Guardian USA

A former president of the National Union of Students is said to have accepted a “substantial” settlement to end her legal action against the union following her dismissal over allegations of antisemitism.

Shaima Dallali was ousted as NUS UK president in November 2022 after an investigation claimed she had made “significant breaches” of the union’s antisemitism policies. But shortly before Dallali’s legal challenge was to be heard by an employment tribunal, the NUS and Dallali’s lawyers said a settlement had been agreed.

A joint statement read: “We are pleased to confirm that a settlement has been reached between Shaima Dallali and the National Union of Students, bringing an end to the proceedings before the employment tribunal.”

Dallali’s dismissal came after an investigation into antisemitism within the organisation, headed by a barrister, Rebecca Tuck, amid concerns over a social media post written 10 years earlier by Dallali that referenced a seventh-century battle between Muslims and Jews.

The NUS said it now accepted that “pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist beliefs may be protected beliefs, as may pro-Zionist beliefs. As a private individual Ms Dallali is, and as president of NUS she was, entitled to hold protected beliefs.”

The NUS statement added: “Throughout this matter, Ms Dallali has suffered truly horrific abuse, which has included death threats, threats of sexual assault and flagrant Islamophobia. This is wholly unacceptable, and NUS categorically condemn it.

“Ms Dallali now has the right to move on with her life and her career free from harassment or abuse.”

While both sides said the terms of the settlement were confidential, people familiar with the case said it was likely that the union had paid Dallali’s legal costs and a further sum as part of the settlement.

The settlement follows a ruling earlier this year that David Miller, a former professor at the University of Bristol, had been unfairly dismissed over his anti-Zionist views, which qualify as philosophical beliefs protected under the Equality Act.

Tayab Ali, the director of the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians, said: “We now have clear legal recognition that criticism of Israel and of Zionism amounts to a protected belief and cannot be suppressed. This must be considered by universities before they decide to take any disciplinary or other action against their students.”

Dallali said: “I am an anti-Zionist and a proud pro-Palestinian. Following today’s settlement, I look forward to being able to focus on continuing to dedicate myself to the Palestinian cause and to serving my community.

“I am immensely grateful to those who have supported me during this difficult chapter in my life and I am pleased that all parties can now move on. Now more than ever, it is important that all communities come together for peace and justice.”

The NUS UK’s latest accounts revealed that the union spent more than £800,000 on the antisemitism investigation since 2022.

After Dallali’s election as president in March 2022, the NUS received complaints about her 2012 tweet that read: “Khaybar Khaybar O Jews … Muhammad’s army will return Gaza,” referencing a historical battle. Dallali later apologised for the tweet.

The joint statement issued on Tuesday said: “As has been noted repeatedly in the media, NUS was very concerned by a tweet that was written by Ms Dallali when she was a teenager, before she was even a student, in 2012.

“Ms Dallali has accepted that while it was not her intention, the tweet was antisemitic. Both parties accept that Ms Dallali has repeatedly apologised for that tweet.”

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At the beginning of last week, Shaima Dallali was elected President of the National Union of Students for a two-year term, She had been the President of City University of London Students’ Union. The problem? In short, the NUS has just voted in an antisemitic Islamist extremist as its President.

There has been a fair amount of noise over Shaima Dallali’s appointment. To some degree her extremist positions and antisemitism have been covered in the Telegraph, Times, Mail, (twice), and of course the Jewish press. But none of these tell the whole story.

Below I set out what we know – and disappointingly (or perhaps as a tragic sign of the times), important facts have gone unreported.

Khaybar Khaybar

I start with the image most people have seen because it can be used to frame everything else that follows. It is a tweet from Shaima Dallali that reference the antisemitic Khaybar chant – a classic Islamic battle cry. It refers to a Muslim massacre of the Jews of the town of that name (Khaybar) in 628 CE – and carries an ominous threat that massacres of Jews will soon occur – led by the army of Mohammed.

There is no doubting that this tweet is antisemitic and pushes an extreme and violent Islamist ideology. After this historical tweet was found by researchers from Labour Against Antisemitism, and just a few days before the election, Dallali published an apology. But apologies about historical mistakes only hold weight if the behaviour afterwards is different from the behaviour before. In Dallali’s case I have absolutely no idea why she apologised. Everything she has done since suggests that her core ‘values’ have not changed at all.

Shaima Dallali and the Muslim Brotherhood

Dallali’s other response was more telling. She swiftly deactivated her Facebook account (took it offline) and deleted thousands of tweets; There was clearly a lot she wanted to hide. But these ‘hide the evidence’ practices rarely hide everything, and some of what turned up was beyond awful. The respected Westminster think-tank ‘Policy Exchange‘, found a historical link to Dallali’s old Twitter profile. This provided a window into what Dallali had tried to hide – and in the profile was part of the Muslim Brotherhood’s motto. The section in Arabic reads ‘death for the sake of Allah is our most exalted wish’. It is part of a Jihadi ideology.

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BBC News: NUS president dismissed over anti-Semitism claims

BBC News - NUS president dismissed over anti-Semitism claims

Absolute state of the UK

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The NUS remains captured by radicals for whom medieval expressions of Jew-hate and religious fundamentalism are not disqualifying features in leadership. I blame the apathy of the greater part of the student bodies that comprise the NUS, but the end result is that the NUS has succeeded in both making British higher education a hostile place for Jews while also discrediting itself among the British public. The victory of the NUS will be its own irrelevance and total loss of influence off-campus.

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BPTC student ‘forced to defer’ exams over fears she’d have to remove headscarf for male invigilator

‘I’ve never felt so humiliated and discriminated against in my life’, Shaima Dallali tells Legal Cheek

A student on the Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC) has spoken out about how she felt “humiliated” and “discriminated” after being “forced to defer” her exams because the regulator required her to partially remove her headscarf for security purposes but could not guarantee a female invigilator.

Shaima Dallali, who is completing the vocational course with master’s at City, University of London, yesterday tweeted: “I was forced to defer my exams to December ’cause the BSB told me to remove my scarf for ID but ‘can’t’ provide me with a female proctor. The whole process is a shambles.”

Dallali’s tweet is just one of several shedding light on some of the problems encountered by students following the the Bar Standards Board’s (BSB) decision to move exams online.

It was reported widely yesterday that a number of students had resorted to urinating in bottles and buckets over fears their online proctored exams, which began this week, would be terminated if they went to the toilet. Others faced technical issues, with Twitter aflood with reports of students being locked out of Pearson VUE’s remote proctoring system.

Secure your place: The Legal Cheek Virtual Pupillage Fairs 2020

Ahead of the August exams students were in contact with their training providers to specify any special requirements they might need. Dallali requested she be assigned a female invigilator after she was told she’d be required to partially remove her headscarf to show her ears for ID but the BSB could not guarantee it would be a woman watching.

Dallali said her scarf has never been an issue before, telling Legal Cheek:

“I’ve never felt so humiliated and discriminated against in my life. I worked so hard to get to where I am today and my scarf was never an issue in all my years in education. I wanted to contribute in breaking barriers for Muslim women, only to realise that the BSB is the barrier to equality, diversity and inclusion at the bar.”

She added: “I hope the BSB reflects on the damage they have done to students and make some serious changes.”

The BPTC exams are set to continue online, and for those with reasonable adjustments, at physical test centres throughout the month. Students have the option to sit or resit their exams in December.

The BSB has been approached for comment.

The post BPTC student ‘forced to defer’ exams over fears she’d have to remove headscarf for male invigilator appeared first on Legal Cheek.

source https://www.legalcheek.com/2020/08/bptc-student-forced-to-defer-exams-over-fears-shed-have-to-remove-headscarf-for-male-invigilator/

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The government is also considering suspending engagement with the organisation. Universities Minister Michelle Donelan said she was “actively considering” the move and that she was “deeply concerned by antisemitism within the NUS, including the remarks of the new President”.  

Ms Dallali has apologised for one post and said she would meet Jewish students to “listen to concerns on how we can make our movement inclusive and open to all”.  

However two days after extending the olive branch, Ms Dallai re-tweeted posts which attacked her critics and claimed she was the victim of “a clear example of racist gendered Islamophobia”.      

An NUS spokesman said: “The NUS is taking antisemitism allegations seriously. There is no place for antisemitism within the student movement.  We have unreservedly apologised for the concern and worry caused in recent weeks, and are working to address any wrongdoing and rebuild trust.  The Board are meeting to instigate our robust internal procedures including considering appointing an independent external party to support with this. If we find that action needs to be taken we won’t hesitate to take it, as we have previously.”