NUS president sacked after antisemitism investigation

The NUS president, Shaima Dallali, has been sacked, The Tab can report.

This comes after the NUS launched an investigation into claims of antisemitism within its own movement back in April this year. These allegations were against Dallali who was the president-elect at the time. Before the investigation was announced, a private warning was sent by 20 former NUS presidents saying the union must address the concerns of Jewish students.

Just weeks ago The Tab was passed exclusive documents from an ex-NUS staffer which included an open letter addressed to the NUS. The letter was signed by 70 members of the NUS in March this year and alleges Dallali “supported deeply homophobic and antisemitic remarks.”

Dallali was elected to lead the NUS for a two-year term from July after being elected at the national conference in March. It has since emerged Dallali’s alleged behaviour was part of a wider investigation within the NUS and she was suspended earlier this year as President pending the outcome of the investigation. However the investigation has since concluded and the result is to remove Dallali entirely from her position at the NUS.

Dallali has previously denied being either antisemitic or homophobic and said she fully supports the investigation. She has also said she has been misrepresented since her election as President.

This comes after previous widespread objection to historical comments attributed to her including a tweet criticised as antisemitic. In an interview with the Guardian in April this year, Dallali said she had already apologised unreservedly for the tweet saying: “I’m not the same person I was. I have developed my political language to talk about Palestine and Israel. I stand by that apology.” She added it was “absolutely not true” that she was hateful to the Jewish community and that her “door has always been open to all students regardless of who they are.”

During the investigation, Dallali says she had received a lot of online abuse. In a tweet from around a month ago, Dallali wrote: “I always knew it would be difficult being a Black, Muslim woman in the public eye but the racist and Islamophobic abuse I have been subjected to and death threats I have received since becoming NUS president are not ok.”

A spokesperson from the NUS has said: “Following the independent KC-led investigation into allegations of antisemitism, specifically into the then President Elect under the NUS Code of Conduct, an independent panel has found that significant breaches of NUS’ policies have taken place. As per this finding, we have terminated the President’s contract. The decision of the panel may be subject to an appeal. In strict accordance with rules around employees and confidentiality, we will not be sharing any further details on the investigation into the President. We can assure any interested parties that this process has been incredibly robust and that we can and must trust in the outcome.

Dallali will now be replaced by Chloe Field, NUS VP, who has said: “As the cost of living crisis continues to bite, I will continue to hold the government to account and push for greater support for students. As students and apprentices reach breaking point, at NUS we have developed a series of clear recommendations for the government and education institutions to ease the burden on students, and I look forward to championing them during my time at NUS.

Shaima Dallali’s representatives declined to comment to The Tab.

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