‘Nauseating’: Jewish groups double down on calls to revoke writer’s $800,000 taxpayer grant

Education Minister Jason Clare has broken his silence on the involvement of young children in a university protest, as Jewish organisations double down on calls to have the host’s academic funding revoked.

Jewish organisations have banded together to demand the federal government strip taxpayer funding from a Sydney academic accused of “exploiting” children in support of Palestine, as the writer herself argued young kids filmed chanting anti-Israel slogans were doing so under their own volition.

After coming under fire for hosting a kids’ excursion to a ‘Gaza solidarity camp’ at the University of Sydney, author and researcher Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah defended the event as a “space of comfort (and) healing” for Palestinian and Muslim families traumatised by the war.

In videos of the event shared online, children of primary school-age were seen leading controversial call-and-response chants including “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, “intifada, intifada”, and “Israel is a terrorist state”.

“We offered them the megaphone to lead chants of their choosing, hoping to give them a sense of agency in a moment of distress,” Dr Abdel-Fattah wrote in a statement shared to social media.

“The ones who jumped at the opportunity had been to the weekly rallies for over 7 months.”

Randa Abdel-Fattah is a prominent Australian Palestinian advocate and a multi award-winning author.

Last week, Dr Abdel-Fattah organised a pro-Palestine event at University of Sydney at which small children kids were filmed chanting for the “intifada”.

The Macquarie University academic, who has been awarded over $800,000 for a research project on ‘Arab/Muslim Australian Social Movements since the 1970s’ by the taxpayer-funded Australian Research Council (ARC), also took aim at the Executive Council of Australian Jewry for criticising the event, describing the Jewish body as “reprehensible” in its condemnation.

ECAJ co-chief executive Peter Wertheim doubled down, describing the event as “indoctrination” and Dr Abdel-Fattah’s research funding as an “an appalling misuse of taxpayers’ money (that) needs to stop now”.

Dr Abdel-Fatah has defended the event as a “space of healing” where children were given “agency” to lead the chants as they chose. Picture: Instagram

“To suggest that this gives the children ‘agency’ is risible,” he said.

“Children under the age of 10 years do not spontaneously burst into ugly political chants that call for an intifada and delegitimise other nations. They are taught to do these things by adults.”

NSW Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip joined the call to have Dr Abdel-Fattah’s government grant revoked.

“The exploitation of children into leading chants calling for an intifada … marks a new and profoundly disturbing low,” he said.

University students have been camping out at the University of Sydney in protest against the war in Gaza for a week. Picture: Jeremy Piper

“The thought that (Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah) has received even a cent of taxpayer money is nauseating and the Government must immediately cancel the research grant it gave her.”

Australian Jewish Association CEO Robert Gregory said his organisation would “joining with our partners to stand up to the ugly hatred that has taken over the University of Sydney”.

Robert Gregory CEO of Australian Jewish Association.

“The scenes at the University of Sydney were ugly and. any adult who played a role in having children shout … support for the ‘Intifada’ which was a wave of suicide bombings and stabbings, should not be in an education setting, let alone the recipient of government grants,” Mr Gregory said.

Education Minister Jason Clare broke his silence on the saga, condemning the involvement of very young children at the extremes of the protest movement.

“It is never okay to fill kids’ minds with hate,” he said.

“There is no place for hate in our universities or anywhere else and it’s never okay to involve kids in things like this.

“I have made it clear to all university vice chancellors that there is nothing more important than the safety of students and staff on campus.

“We have got to work here to keep our community together, not let it get torn apart.”

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA, NewsWire Photos. MARCH 27, 2024: Minister for Education, Jason Clare during Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

However, the federal government has washed its hands of its ability to recoup the funding, with the ARC awarding contracts directly to institutions rather than individual academics. It is understood the ARC can only cancel funding in matters of academic misconduct such as plagiarism or falsified research, with staff conduct matters otherwise redirected to their employer.

Macquarie University was contacted for comment but chose not to address Dr Abdel-Fattah’s matter directly despite the academic’s insistence she would be “protected from improper pressures”.

“Macquarie University has policies and procedures in place to balance lawful free speech and academic freedom with its commitment to providing a safe and welcoming environment for all,” a spokeswoman said.

“This extends to those representing Macquarie University outside the campus.”