Antisemitism is 'in plain sight' on our university campuses - the hate must end now

The past two years have seen an appalling rise in antisemitism, not least in our universities, where the number of incidents grew by 413% in the year following the atrocities committed by Hamas onOctober 7. We witnessed it in plain sight this week.

The Prime Minister called for humanity ahead of university protests on the anniversary of an attack where 1,200 people were brutally murdered, and particularly in the wake of the deadly terrorist attack on Heaton Park Synagogue. The right to peaceful protest is enshrined in law, and universities are places for ideas to be shared and debated. Protesters could have chosen any of the other 364 days of the year to make their voices heard.

But now is the time to bring the country together, not drag it apart.

Universities, just like everyone else in the country, have a clear role to play: not just keeping Jewish students safe, but as anchors to the communities they serve. I wrote to Vice Chancellors this week to make this crystal clear. And I am urgently bringing together university leaders, police, and faith community organisations to establish what more we can do, together.

As the universities' regulator said on Friday, the Office for Students has powers to fine universities - and ultimately could cut off public funding - if they fail to uphold their responsibilities to protect Jewish students.

One instance of antisemitism is one too many, which is why I'm clear the buck stops with universities when it comes to ridding their campuses of hate. Institutions have my full backing to use their powers to do so and keep their students safe.

My colleague, the Home Secretary, recently announced she will give explicit powers to police to clamp down on repeated protests to protect communities from cumulative disruption. The message from government could not be clearer: hate and harassment, of any community, will not be tolerated.

Education remains our strongest weapon against prejudice. There is a common core to all kinds of hatred: a toxic mix of ignorance and misinformation.

With our children now so often exposed to this misinformation online, our efforts to tackle hatred must start in school.

That is why we're investing in training staff from primary schools to universities to identify and tackle antisemitism, teaching them how to encourage tolerant debate outside the classroom, and to help students identify misinformation and disinformation around antisemitic views.

By giving children the tools of knowledge, empathy, and critical thinking, we build resilience not only to antisemitism, but to every form of hate.

Hatred, in all its shapes, thrives on ignorance and can spread like a virus if we leave it unchallenged. It is my job to help build a country that rejects misinformation and disinformation and chooses truth.

A country of learning, not ignorance. A country of hope, not hate.