Yellow ribbons appeared overnight at six university campuses nationwide as part of a campaign to maintain awareness of the plight of the hostages held by Hamas.
The symbolic ribbons have been seen at the universities in Birmingham, Leeds, Cambridge, Sussex, Nottingham and Exeter.
One Jewish student, who chose to remain anonymous, said: “Coming onto campus this morning and seeing these ribbons made me so emotional. Seeing my campus as a place that recognises the plight of these hostages being held by terrorists makes me feel safer and more welcome as a Jewish student. Knowing now that this happened across lots of campuses, gives me hope. Thank you to those who did this.”
Sussex University, February 2025
When asked for comment, Sami Berkoff, Union of Jewish Students president, said, “It is clear that Jewish students are not alone in fighting to keep the awareness and understanding of the plight of the hostages in Gaza present amongst the campus conversations about this war. We must keep campaigning and raising awareness until every hostage is returned home. This makes me proud, as the president of the Jewish student movement, that our students are stepping up and ensuring their voices are heard loudly and clearly!”
Arieh Miller, UJS chief executive said, “We can and should all be proud of this generation of students for undertaking this kind of non-offensive, non-disruptive direct action in support of the campaign to bring home the hostages from Gaza. It has been 485 days since they have seen or spoken with their families, their friends, irand their community. We cannot live in a world where their plight loses momentum until every one of them is home.”
He added: “It is unclear if other campuses will follow suit, here in the UK or globally, but it is abundantly clear that Jewish students will not be silent on the issue of the hostages.”
