A Palestine Society poster in the Union has been branded anti-semitic

The Palestine Society have sparked controversy after putting up a poster in the SU which the Jewish Society claim makes “anti-semitic implications” about the war in the Middle East.

The poster, which was stuck on the wall of the SU, controversially used the term “Jewish attacks” when discussing the War of Independence in 1948.

The Jewish Society argue they were unhappy about the Palestine Society’s use of the word “Jewish”, and the poster’s use of leading language throughout.

This came at a particularly sensitive time for Jewish students, during the annual Israel Apartheid Week, where some already felt like the University environment was hostile, due to the deeply political nature of the event.

The poster has sparked controversy

Natalie May, a third year Medic and a member of Sheffield Jewish Society, was one of those who was upset by the poster’s wording. She said: “That poster includes unfounded statements targeted at a group of people who know only too well the trauma of ‘ethnic cleansing’.

“It makes me very concerned that this will be believed by people who don’t know any different.”

Noam Yossef, President of the Jewish Society, said: “The Sheffield Jewish society actively encourages the debate of issues concerning the Israel-Palestine conflict, and enjoys warm relations with peace organisations working to highlight the concerns of those on both sides.

“However, we must stress the importance of clearly separating legitimate criticism of the State of Israel from the demonisation of its civilians and of Jews living around the world.

“The SU should be a space where students of any race or religion can walk without fear. It is the sole responsibility of those disseminating materials to ensure that they are factual, historically accurate and sensitive to the harm that is caused by such mistakes.

“We hope such events will not happen again in the future.”

The poster was found by the stairs, on level four of the SU.

President of Sheffield Palestine Society, Abdallah claims the controversial use of the word ‘Jewish’ was merely a “typo”.

He said: “Discrimination should have no place in our modern day lives. Anti-semitism, Islamophobia and Anti-Christianity are all not welcome on university campuses and any act of racism or segregation must not be tolerated.

“Palestine Society is clear with its policies and it is always ensured and made clear for the public and for students that political ideologies such as Zionism are completely different from and non-analogous to religious beliefs such as Judaism.

“It is always stressed out not to confuse the terms Zionist, Israeli and Jew for instance.

“As part of the Israeli Apartheid Week, which seeks to raise awareness about Israel’s ongoing settler-colonial project and apartheid policies over the Palestinian people, posters with graphical and textual content were hung around the SU.

“A poster hung beside the stairs in the SU had a typo that used the term ‘Jewish attacks’ instead of ‘Zionist militia attacks’. The person hanging the posters filtered out other posters that contain misleading terms and misconceptions, but they were not aware of the typo in this particular poster.”

Furthermore, Abdallah claimed that Palestine Society could not be blamed for the anti-semitic contents of the poster. He argued: “The posters were not printed by Palsoc and the source of these is unknown as they happen to be in the society’s inventory for years without anyone from previous committees knowing where they came from.

“As soon as the issue was pointed out, the poster was immediately removed from its place. The Palestine Society can’t be held responsible for that poster, as the society’s constituency, aims and objectives all disagree with and don’t represent the content of that poster.”