By Madeline Sidgwick, Senior News Editor
The Students’ Union (SU) Board made the decision to overturn the Societies, Sports and Opportunities Executive (SSO) board members’ decision to deny the ratification of Royal Holloway Israeli Society. Members of the SSO board are elected by students throughout the year.
In a statement released at 11am today, Friends of Palestine Society stated “We demand that the SU Board revoke their decision to overturn the democratic and legitimate decision of the SSO, our elected representatives- immediately”.
Israeli Society last night via Instagram stories stated, “Following an appeal the decision not to ratify the Israel Society has been overturned, subject to a few minor conditions. Fantastic news! RHUL will soon have an official Israeli Society”.
The SU rules on getting a new society ratified are available to all on the Royal Holloway Students’ Union website. The process requires new societies to “explain to us the reason behind your group and ask you to look at financial forecasts to make sure it can be successful”.
The Orbital reached out to both Friends of Palestine Society and Israeli Society via their respective society Instagram accounts.
The Israeli Society did not respond to our message.
The statements provided are below.
Statement from Huda, President of Friends of Palestine & Elected Member of the SSO: “As a Palestinian, I have watched this story play out my entire life. We follow the rules. We use democracy. And when the outcome isn’t what Zionists want – they discard their own democracy to impose the outcome they do want. I was elected to the SSO. My vote was ignored. So was yours.”
Statement from Faaris, Events Manager of Friends of Palestine & Elected Member of the SSO: “Clear reasons were given for why an Israeli society should not have been ratified. Hence why it was rejected on the first vote. To then decide ‘The process of ratification for the student group should be reviewed in its entirety’ because a student group was not ratified is undemocratic and preposterous. Why is an entire process being reviewed based off of one case?”.
Image Credit: Royal Holloway Students’ Union Website