If the absence of students taking to university furniture with hammers is “peaceful” (as happened at New York’s Columbia University), then Mark Scott, the vice chancellor of the University of Sydney, is correct.

In Australia, the “pro-Palestinian” protests that seem to merge seamlessly into unashamed support for Hamas don’t yet compete with what’s happening at American colleges. Riot police aren’t yet storming encampments and firing tear gas into crowds. Hundreds of demonstrators have been arrested at universities across the United States in the past few days.