British Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi exits Downing Street in London, Britain, January 25, 2022. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

One day ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the UK’s Department of Education hosted a virtual forum on antisemitism in education.

Attended by prominent Jewish communal groups including the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Community Security Trust (CST), the University of Jewish Chaplaincy, and the Union of Jewish Students (UJS), the summit was convened on Wednesday by Secretary of Education Nadhim Zahawi to address last year’s 59% rise in antisemitic incidents on college campuses.

“Education is the vaccine against antisemitism,” Zahawi said ahead of the event. “No Jewish students or staff members should be subjected to antisemitic abuse, and by working together we will send out a clear message that antisemitism — like other forms of racism — will never be tolerated in our classrooms or campuses.”

The ministry discussed improving data reporting on antisemitic incidents at universities and urged those schools which had not yet adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism to do so.

“It’s no coincidence that this Antisemitism Summit was held the day before Holocaust Memorial Day,” said Board of Deputies Vice President Amanda Bowman after the summit concluded. “The Summit provided a great opportunity to hear more about some of the great work that is going on in this area and the recognition and understanding of the pain and damage that antisemitism is doing to Jewish students and Jewish staff on campuses around the UK.”

During the event, the Union of Jewish Students held an antisemitism awareness training break-out session, where the group counseled participants on enhancing their responses to complaints of antisemitism.

“We were delighted to be invited to speak and deliver a sample of our antisemitism awareness training at … antisemitism summit today,” UJS tweeted.

In a government press release earlier, UJS President Nina Freedman said she hoped “this summit will just be the first step in a collaborative plan to combat antisemitism in higher education.”

“Antisemitism awareness training is a vital and effective tool for rooting out antisemitism in the higher education sector,” she continued. “We hope to empower as many people as possible to recognize and call out antisemitism where they see it in any form.”