And so it ends. The double-standards, rhetoric and indoctrination that characterises the alliance between radical student Leftist groups and extremist Islamists have pushed Manchester University to the brink of totalitarianism.

Last week, the Manchester University Islamic Society and Action Palestine played host to Azzam Tamimi, decried by Dr. Denis MacShane MP as a ‘preacher of hate’. He was one in a long list of Israel haters at the Palestine Conference. A supporter of Hamas and proponent of terror, this man is doing the rounds on university campuses nationwide. Two days ago he appeared in a veritable who’s who of Israel-haters at Queen Mary, University of London. In the esteemed Oxford Union last week, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Israel was verbally (and nearly physically) assaulted. At every rally and in every hall, Tamimi roars ‘I hate Zionists’.

Let us be quite clear: Zionism is a legitimate political ideology to hold. It is a liberal-democratic ideology, it is the belief that the Jewish nation, like every other nation, has the right to national self-determination. Israel, falsely vilified as an ‘Apartheid’ state, a racist state, is a legitimate member of the international community, with a progressive and vibrant civil society.

And yet, Zionism and the Jewish state have become toxic. Uniquely, the Hard Left harbours a resentment so deeply ingrained, so virulent and so violent that Jewish students are increasingly contacting the Union of Jewish Students and the Community Service Trust to convey their fear and – at times – panic. No other ethnic group faces such consistent denigration.

The Hard Left and the Islamic Society in Manchester today began enforcing an illegitimate boycott of the Jewish State in the Manchester University Students’ Union. The Deputy Ambassador has been invited by the Politics Society of Manchester to speak on Thursday. Despite passing all of the rigorous freedom of speech checks and all the democratic institutions of the University and Union, the “Unholy Alliance” is enforcing its ideological totalitarianism on the UK. Utilising a spurious argument that the Student Union’s ‘solidarity’ with the global Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement permits them to enforce a boycott of anything Israeli, they are acting Ultra vires. And the Manchester University Students’ Union Executive is NOT calling them out on this lie.

Last year, amidst the Left’s incessant misinformation during Operation Cast Lead, the Students’ Union affiliated with the BDS movement. Radical students are now using this affiliation to claim that they can institute a ‘No Platform’ policy against any representative of the Israeli Government. One wonders where this tyranny will end: will any expression of support for Israel be No Platform-ed? A mass demonstration, likely to be highly intrusive and physical, is expected tomorrow by Action Palestine and the affiliated organisations.

Let us not forget that it was the very same members of Action Palestine and the Islamic Society who so artfully defended their invitation of the terrorist-endorsing Tamimi last week. We are witnessing disconcertingly deceitful tactics being employed: using arguments of Freedom of Speech on the one hand and yet with the other enforcing ideological absolutism on anyone who dares challenge their falsehoods. Whilst these advocates of extremist absolutism are free to do as they will, defenders of liberal democracy seem to be amputating themselves at every opportunity: apologetic for their high ideals, self-loathing and now seemingly self-harming.

In 1923, the ‘philosophical godfather of Nazism’, Carl Schmitt, wrote in ‘The Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy’ that democracies will fail, because their adherents “suspend decisive [ideological] battle through endless discussion”. Meanwhile, Liberty’s enemies will utilise our weaknesses against us.

Banning the Jewish state is a significant shift in the ideological battle being waged within the student movement. This event is the culmination of years of silence from those who should have spoken out in favour of the only democracy in the Middle East.

Ideological totalitarianism is here: the abyss lays before us. Now is the time to speak out and bring us back from the edge.

This is a Guest-post from Northern Ireland Friends of Israel.

Originally from Donaghadee, Laura Kafif does not have to search around for job satisfaction.

Fourteen years ago the former hairdresser and part owner of a salon in Bangor left Northern Ireland for a new life in Israel with her Israeli husband Boaz.

When her own son was safely off to nursery school, Laura volunteered with Save a Child’s Heart (SACH), an Israeli charity, which brings thousands of children from around the world to Israel in order to carry out life-saving heart surgery unavailable  in their own countries.

On January 28 this year Save a Child’s Heart hit the headlines when a 6 year old boy named Woodley, together with his aunt, flew from Haiti to Tel-Aviv with the returning Israeli rescue team.  Woodley was greeted at the airport by hundreds of well-wishers, including the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Woodley was brought to Israel by SACH to undergo complicated cardiac surgery he desperately needs to survive.

Laura explains that SACH is totally dedicated to the idea that every child deserves the best medical treatment available, regardless of the child’s nationality, religion, colour, gender or financial situation.

Since  SACH was founded in 1995, by the late cardiac surgeon Dr Ami Cohen, it has saved the lives of more than 2,300 children from 36  countries – many of which do not have diplomatic relations with Israel. 40% of the children who underwent cardiac surgery are from Africa; 49% from the Palestinian Authority, Jordan & Iraq;  the remainder from many other countries including the former USSR, China, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

The children brought to Israel are treated at the Wolfson Medical Centre in Holon by a team of 70 dedicated experts who, from chief surgeon to the physiotherapist, contribute a substantial portion of their time without any payment from SACH.

The children are hosted at the SACH children’s home in nearby Azor before and after their treatment.

And that is where Laura comes in, her job is to run the children’s home. “As a child’s average stay in Israel is three months I get to know the children personally”, she says

Laura explains: “My son had just started Kindergarden so I just decided to show up at the SACH house to see how I could help. SACH had grown and were in the process of moving to a larger house.   After volunteering for six months, I was offered a job. I have been with SACH for eight and a half years, travelling twice to Zanzibar on medical missions with the SACH  medical team”.

In Laura’s care at the moment are five children from Gaza, children from Iraq, as well as children from Angola, Ghana, Uganda and the Gambia.

“Working for SACH is so completely different to what I was doing before I came to Israel.  Maybe it is a little clichéd to say, but there is nothing like working with these children and their escorts and seeing them within a few weeks after surgery,  running and playing like any child should.”

”During the month of February SACH is running a Valentines Day campaign.  Please visit their new interactive donation web page, watch world music innovator Idan Raichel hanging out with the children, and take a moment to “Give Your Heart…and Save a Life.”

If you would like to know more about Save a Childs Heart visit their website : www.saveachildsheart.org