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Arena Williams, the President of the Auckland University Students’ Association (AUSA), has been forced to apologise after taking a 10-day trip to Israel, funded by the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC).

According to its website, AIJAC “endeavours to highlight and counteract instances of anti-Israel bias and misinformation in the Australian media and the wider public debate.” The organisation has funded trips to Israel for a number of young leaders from New Zealand and Australia in 2012, although the invitees are always technically invited in a personal capacity. On Williams’ July trip, she was accompanied by Young Labour Youth Vice-President Glenn Riddell and Young Nationals President Sean Topham.

Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) were furious to find out about Williams’ trip, and demanded an official apology from Williams “for visiting an apartheid country under an international boycott” and “for not representing or consulting with students” about the trip.

Another SJP spokesperson went further, saying Williams “has soiled our good name and helped to legitimise the genocide, torture, land theft and military occupation being committed by Israel against the Palestinian people on a daily basis.”

A student forum was held on Wednesday in the University of Auckland quad, with over 200 students attending. Three motions relating to Williams’ Israel trip were put to the vote and succeeded with a clear majority – firstly, that Williams should be censured for taking the trip; secondly, that Williams should make an apology relating to the trip; and thirdly, that exec members “must consult” with the student body when visiting “contentious places”.

Following the successful motions, Williams apologised to the forum “for not treating it like the personal issue it was, for something that’s quite traumatic for generations of people involved in the conflict.” She will be issuing a written apology later in the week after consulting with her executive. Critic wonders how sincere and heartfelt Williams’ apology can possibly be, given that she was forced to make it by a popular vote.

Williams told Critic: “All student leaders should be able to go and experience these things with their own eyes. It requires a lot of responsibility on their part to be able to look at the situation critically and not just be spoon-fed whatever information they’re given when they do go. But in future it would be very sad if student leaders who get offered experiences like this from any organisation have to turn them down.”