'Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity for speaking today. My name is Josh Seitler and I am the elected president of the Union of Jewish Students of the UK and Ireland and an Executive Member of the World Union of Jewish Students. I stand here in front of you representing the 8,500 Jewish students across 64 university campuses in the UK.

So the UJS Reclaim campaign is officially over for another year. This year saw more engagement from more campuses and more online engagement with our website (www.reclaimtheconversation.com) that last year. We had three times the number of campus events this year than last year which is incredible in itself.

Pots were sizzling, knives were chopping and the heat was on. The Great Jewish Cook Off was a new and innovative competition that I was proud to implement as a new UJS National Event this year.

Jonathan Arkush’s public suggestion that Jewish students should avoid the London School of Economics (LSE) troubled me as the President of Union of Jewish Students, as a representative on the Board of Deputies, and also as a proud alumnus of LSE.

Last year I approached UJS with an idea, which was for them to run a mental health campaign.

October 2013, Birmingham. My lecturer tells me that one of my favourite male authors was in fact a woman, but she wrote under a pseudonym because she couldn't get published with a female name in the 17th century. I remember that the same thing happened to JK Rowling in the 1990s. 

Every year Jewish students lead conversations on campus about promoting balanced discussions and nuanced debate on the difficult topic of Israel and Palestine. These conversations often take place amidst a concerted campaign of division, hatred and delegitimisation that can occur within student discussions.

For many, Parliament is a distant concept. We decide who we want to sit there on our behalf and represent us, but for too many of us our involvement ends there and we are detached from the process.

Why do we still remember?

Natacha with the UJS delegation, as part of the UK delegation to March of the Living

When you go somewhere people always ask ‘how was it?’ And words can never express the intensity of what you’ve experienced. This is a trip too important to miss and my words can only carry so far. I went on March of the Living for the first time as a student; the following year I went as a member of UJS staff, and I would go again. I have to.

There are many trips that provide you with the opportunity to go to Poland and learn about the horrific atrocities of the Holocaust. It is also possible to go to Poland at any time in your life, so why go now? That’s what was stopping me going as a student - I had essays of however many words to write, I had exams to prepare for and could not afford to put myself through an emotional rollercoaster that I wasn’t sure I would adjust to, because it would be far too tough.

But, what is too tough? Learning the truth? Taking a moment not to ignore it? It is tough - but it is far tougher to ignore and to forget, to listen to people deny, revise or talk about the Holocaust in a blasé way.