As Xenophobia Rises, U.K. Jewish Students Stand with Refugees

As anti-immigrant rhetoric and antisemitism rise across the United Kingdom and beyond, a growing group of Jewish university students is choosing a different response: speaking out for refugees and asylum seekers.

Through a new initiative led by HIAS+JCORE and the Union of Jewish Students (UJS), young advocates are learning how to challenge misinformation, confront hateful rhetoric, and build support for people seeking safety.

For Samantha Lewkowicz, a recent graduate from the University of East Anglia, hearing directly from young refugees and asylum seekers at a HIAS+JCORE event last summer inspired her to take action. As the Sabbatical Officer for Social Action and Holocaust Education at UJS, she advocated to start a program with HIAS+JCORE that would engage other Jewish university students throughout the U.K.

“We developed this program and weren’t sure there would be any interest, but then 50 students signed up,” Sam recalled. “I know how busy students are. Trying to get them involved in anything is a challenge, let alone something where you’re devoting your free time to advocating for refugees and asylum seekers.”

The Student Refugee Ambassador Program (SRAP) is about to wrap up its first year, after empowering participants with the skills to advocate for refugees. Connecting Jewish values and history, SRAP mobilizes students to support displaced people seeking safety today.

“With this program, we provide students with knowledge about refugees, but also we teach them to be proud of being Jewish,” said Yael Peleg, HIAS+JCORE’s Community Engagement Director. “They understand our responsibility as Jews and our commitment to creating communities of welcome.”

Sam added: “We’ve equipped ambassadors with the ability to challenge discrimination and hateful rhetoric around refugees and asylum seekers. When they are out with their friends and the topic comes up, they now have the tools to speak out with facts and evidence-based information.”

Over the course of the past school year, students have learned directly from refugees about the challenges of the current asylum system in the U.K. They’ve met with Members of Parliament and other experts about how to advocate for fair policies that protect people fleeing violence and persecution.

“[Ambassadors] are amazed at how much they’ve learned. There is so much misinformation about refugees and asylum seekers,” said Sam. “It can be daunting to advocate when the media is very negative towards refugees. But knowing there are people at high levels who are making progress gives students the courage to speak up.”

For Phoebe, a master’s student from King’s College London who is originally from Maryland in the United States, the experience has taken her full circle. Her father volunteers with his Jewish community to help resettle Afghan refugee families back home in Maryland, so she jumped at the chance to become involved during her studies in the U.K.

“It’s important to me that we as the Jewish community reach out because so many of us are descended from refugees ourselves,” Phoebe shared. “I grew up hearing about how my own great grandparents came to the U.S. to escape persecution under the Russian Empire, as well as stories from my friends and neighbors about their own experiences in more recent times because where I’m originally from is one of the most diverse areas in the country, with a high immigrant and refugee population.”

Phoebe has seen firsthand in the U.S. and the U.K. how anti-immigrant policies and rhetoric are harming refugees and asylum seekers. The refugees Phoebe’s father works with are struggling to acquire basic needs as the U.S. government cuts back on humanitarian assistance and adds extra bureaucratic hurdles. The refugees also live in constant worry about ICE raids and being sent back to danger in Afghanistan. The U.K. is roiled right now in debates around implementing similarly devastating policies for refugees and asylum seekers.

“There’s a lot of overlap between the rise of xenophobia and antisemitism in the U.S. and the U.K. right now, and that’s why it’s important to me to have these conversations with people in both countries, so we can work towards combating it together,” Phoebe said.

With the need for ambassadors never higher, HIAS+JCORE and UJS are eager to continue the program over at least the next two school years. SRAP can help inspire students to give back to refugee communities and become the next generation of leaders on displacement issues.

“My hope is that the SRAP graduates will take their knowledge and share it with others,” Yael shared. “Our voices aren’t loud enough at the moment. We need advocates for refugees, and my aspiration is that SRAP will grow in numbers from year to year, creating student grassroots advocacy on campuses.”

At a time of increasing xenophobia and antisemitism in the United Kingdom, United States, and across the world, advocating for displaced people can be an unpopular opinion. Yet, there have never been more people seeking safety who need assistance.

“There is still so much more advocacy work to be done for refugees and asylum seekers, and this program is only the beginning of achieving a society where refugees and asylum seekers feel welcomed in our communities,” Sam reflected. “People fleeing war and persecution just want an opportunity to start over with their families. They are regular people just like us who want a normal life. They deserve the same respect as everyone else.”