Paul de Jersey urges Qld universities to confront on-campus anti-Semitism

Former Queensland Governor and Chief Justice Paul de Jersey has taken aim at the state’s universities for their ‘wishy washy’ response to anti-Semitismm, urging action on the ‘racist’ reality of campus conflicts.

Former Queensland Governor and Chief Justice Paul de Jersey has taken aim at the state’s universities for their “wishy washy” response to anti-Semitism and urged them to front up to the “racist” reality of the on-campus conflict.

Mr de Jersey, in a rare public statement, said it was time for universities as “once respected and directing bastions of learning and integrity” to appropriately deal with escalating tensions between pro-Palestine protesters and Jewish students.

Queensland Governor Paul de Jersey at Government House.

“As a citizen I find myself deeply ashamed of the wishy-washy response to our current rampant anti-Semitism and I think I should publicly declare as much,” he said.

“Why are we not hearing the voices of those usually righteous and vocal leading lights who could be steering us through this shameful, ghastly mess?

“What is going on is racist, no more, no less. We should all frankly be ashamed of ourselves. This should be a matter (the) public acknowledge.

“Let there be honesty, especially for goodness sake from the Universities – once respected and directing bastions of learning and integrity: any longer?”

The comments from Mr de Jersey, who served as Queensland’s Governor from 2014 to 2021 after spending 16 years as the state’s chief justice, come after a week of rising tensions between pro-Palestinian and Jewish students at Queensland’s largest university.

This includes two pro-Palestinian students at the University of Queensland admitting, on camera, that they would be terrorists if involved in the war between Israel and Hamas.

UQ’s pro-Palestinian camp condemned the comments of the two protesters with Students for Palestine organiser Liam Perry saying the pair had left “of their own accord”.

The group has also denied involvement in Thursday morning’s attack on school property, when an unknown assailant smashed a glass panel with a bollard.

A Jewish academic’s office at the University of Queensland was also allegedly broken into and urinated in last week, prompting police to be called and the university to launch an internal investigation.

UQ Student Liam Parry condemnes the comments by two of their protesters at a press conference. Picture David Clark

UQ Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Terry said she had condemned behaviour on campus that was unlawful or went beyond university policy and had taken “decisive actions” in response to the incidents.

“Our priority is working with camp organisers to agree a plan for how we support freedom of speech in a way that ensures the safety and wellbeing of our community and does not impact on university activities,” she said.

A UQ spokesman said security had been increased on campus in response to the camps.

“There was an active police and security presence on site for (Thursday’s) protest rally,” he said.

“UQ is continuing to investigate the unacceptable behaviour of one individual at the rally and has reported the matter to police, who are also helping to verify whether those involved are part of our UQ community.”

“As a matter of priority, we are working with camp organisers to de-escalate the current situation and agree a plan for how we support freedom of speech in a way that ensures the safety and wellbeing of our community and does not impact on our operations.”