Tayyib Nawaz steps down as Co-Chair of Manchester Labour Students after claiming Hitler was Jewish and 150,000 Jews were in SS

Tayyib Nawaz, the newly-elected Manchester Metropolitan Co-Chair of Manchester Labour Students (MLS), has reportedly resigned from his post after the uncovering of shocking antisemitic and homophobic tweets by the The Mancunian, the student newspaper of the University of Manchester. It appears that since the exposé, Nawaz has removed his Twitter account.

The Mancunian reported that the tweets surfaced late last week. According to the paper: “At an official MLS meeting on Monday night, a motion calling for his resignation, brought by outgoing [MLS] Co-Chair Zak Deakin, was unanimously backed by the committee. On Tuesday afternoon, Nawaz chose to resign from the post.”

Deakin told The Mancunian before Nawaz’s resignation that “I stood on a platform of tackling antisemitism and so I’m incredibly dismayed and frustrated that I once again find myself having to make a statement in regards to this blatant racism: I can only apologise to Jewish students who have again had to be put through this.”

The Mancunian has revealed a number of appalling antisemitic tweets in screenshots captured two days ago. Nawaz allegedly tweeted on 1st April 2016 that “the same victims of the Holocaust are now murdering and ethnically cleansing Palestinians…The irony”. He reportedly tweeted on 13th September 2013 that “there were approximately 150,000 Jewish SS who personally were involved in the Holocaust” and on 15th April 2014 he allegedly tweeted: “Truth hurts, Hitler was Jewish himself.”

In a statement to The Mancunian, Leoni Benabú Morales, President of the Manchester Jewish Society (JSoc), said that “Claiming that Hitler himself is Jewish and comparing Israel to Nazi Germany is an insult and should not be tolerated from anyone, much less someone who is meant to represent our students. For us, it is of uttermost importance that Jewish students in Manchester feel safe, and we believe that this is a step backwards in achieving that. The JSoc will not stand for this kind of racist behaviour”.

On 26th April, we applauded the National Union of Students (NUS) under its newly-elected President, Shakira Martin, for reaffirming its commitment to the International Definition of Antisemitism at its recent National Conference. The very definition that Nawaz has so blatantly and repeatedly breached with his alleged tweets.

If you would like to help us to address antisemitism on campus, please contact [email protected].