Brtain’s Jewish community expressed concern after the country’s National Union of Students (NUS) elected a left-wing president who has refused to condemn the Islamic State group and attacked “Zionist-led media outlets”.

Malia Bouattia, who has been the Union’s Black Students Officer since 2014, was elected to the top student job after just a single round of voting last week despite concerns from Jewish students over her prior remarks.

According to London’s Jewish News, some of her previous comments include calling Birmingham University “a Zionist outpost in British higher education”. She has also said that Prevent, the government’s anti-radicalisation policy, is dictated by “all manner of Zionist and neo-con lobbies”.

The head of the Board of Deputies of British Jews Jonathan Arkush stated: “We are deeply concerned by the failure of new NUS president Malia Bouattia to satisfactorily clarify past remarks and associations.

“There can be no excuse for associating with organisations who have a history of anti-Semitism, equivocating on terrorism or considering Jewish societies on campus as ‘a challenge,’’ he said.

“Jewish students have as much right to feel safe on campus as anyone else, and as a president tasked with representing the welfare and concerns of all students, Ms Bouattia must live up to her responsibility and take the concerns of Jewish students seriously.’’

The Union of Jewish Students (UJS) said many Jewish students have not been satisfied with Malia’s response so far to the concerns raised by Jewish students over the last few weeks. “We look forward to Malia leading an NUS that honours the just passed policy to tackle seriously all forms of anti-Semitism, including attempts to deny Jewish people the right to self-determination and use of antisemitic rhetoric in attacks on State of Israel,” the group said.

The chairman od the UK Zionist Federation, Paul Charney, said her election will be “a deeply challenging day for Jewish students”.

“Accusations of intolerance and bigotry are the death-knell for candidates in this movement, and yet the NUS has unequivocally voted for a candidate whose rhetoric and views on Jews and “Zionists” echo those of any classic right-wing white supremacist.”