(JTA) — A Muslim activist who supports boycotting Israel and Palestinian resistance to the Jewish state has lost in her bid to be re-elected as president of the United Kingdom’s National Union of Students.
Jewish groups welcomed news that Malia Bouattia, who once described Birmingham University as a “Zionist outpost,” lost Wednesday to Shakira Martin, who received 402 votes to Bouattia’s 272.
“Shakira’s election demonstrates a rejection of the divisive rhetoric used by the current president, Malia Bouattia, whose past anti-Ssemitic comments have remained problematic for Jewish students for over a year,” a spokesperson for the Union of Jewish Students told the Jewish Chronicle. “The overwhelming majority of Jewish students across the UK will be grateful that NUS will soon be led once again by a capable leader who is genuinely committed to ensuring that the student movement stands up for all its members.”
Bouattia’s election last year divided campuses across Great Britain, with several cutting ties to the National Union of Students in protest of her anti-Zionist rhetoric.
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