Durban - Calls by the Durban University of Technology's (DUT) SRC for Jewish students who do not support the Palestinian cause to deregister are appalling, the Council of KwaZulu-Natal Jewry said on Thursday.
“The call is blatantly anti-Semitic,” its vice president Alana Baranov said in a statement.
Singling out any student for discrimination based solely on their religion, race, gender or political affiliation went against the values and principles of the Constitution, said Baranov.
“It is especially saddening that such a call could be made by youth organisations in our country which has overcome a dark history of racial segregation and oppression and sacrificed much to achieve freedom, equality and human rights for all.”
The DUT's student representative council (SRC) called on Wednesday for the expulsion of all Jewish students who did not support the Palestinian cause.
The demand was sent to the university management, the Daily News reported.
The newspaper quoted SRC secretary Mqondisi Duma as saying: “As the SRC we had a meeting and analysed international politics. We took the decision that Jewish students, especially those who do not support the Palestinian struggle, should deregister.”
The university's vice chancellor Prof Ahmed Bawa reportedly told the newspaper the demand was “totally unacceptable”.
Sapa