Sydney University students taught about ‘Gaza genocide’

Sydney University students have been given recommended reading material that describes the Israel-Gaza conflict as a ‘genocide’ and Jewish people as ‘eternal victims’.

First-year university students at the prestigious University of Sydney are being taught Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, Jewish leaders say.

Jewish students have raised concerns about a USYD professor after a teacher circulated an article to students that described the war in Gaza as a genocide and Jewish people as “eternal victims” who were complicit in the war.

Another USYD student said protesters had stormed into lectures completely unrelated to the Middle East calling for the university to stop supporting a “genocide”.

The latest complaints come after vice-chancellor Mark Scott deflected blame onto the federal government over reports extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir was active on the university campus.

Mr Scott said if the government wanted to ban the group being on their campus, or bar the slogans “Globalise the intifada” and “From the river to the sea”, it should ban them.

Sydney University vice-chancellor Mark Scott at a Budget Estimates hearing last week. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

The email, seen by The Saturday Telegraph, was sent by senior lecturer Dr Minglu Chen to students, saying fellow academic US Foreign Relations Professor Brendan O’Connor wished to share an article with students.

The article, titled “Why I am a Realist by John Mearsheimer”, goes on to say Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

It accused Jewish people of being complicit in genocide being committed in their names.

“One might think that a people who see themselves as ‘eternal victims’ would have some measure of introspection and sympathy for the Palestinians – and given the Holocaust, be horrified by the mere possibility of genocide being committed in their name,” the article said.

“But that is not happening.

“Given the horrors that have befallen the Palestinians, it seems to me – thinking like a realist – that the only hope is to get a viable state of their own and make it as powerful as possible.”

The pro-Palestine encampment on the lawn of Sydney University in June. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

One first-year USYD student said a lecture for psychology students and another for criminology students were disrupted by protesters.

“It’s a subject that has nothing to do with the Middle East … they are disrupting classes in a way that is making it impossible for lecturers to teach,” they said.

The student said there was “still a presence” of pro-Palestine protesters on campus despite controversial encampments being moved on: “The antisemitism has erupted.”

Mr Scott this week defended his university’s handling of protests on campus at a NSW Budget Estimates hearing.

He said it was a matter for the Commonwealth to list Hizb-ut Tahrir — a group that celebrated the Hamas October 7 attack on Israel — as a terrorist organisation, which would allow universities to bar extremists from their campus.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry legal head Simone Abel said this was not an isolated incident.

“There is something rotten at the core of our tertiary education system when subjects from architecture to sociology at universities across the country throw up hate speech, misinformation and disinformation,” she said.

“Many unis will say this is about free speech, when actually it’s about freedom from discrimination versus hate speech.”

A spokesman for the university said the article calling Jewish people “eternal victims” was not required reading, but “supplementary material”.

“We appreciate some will legitimately disagree with the content of this article and, while a valid topic for a class on this subject, we’ll continue to remind our community to communicate sensitively and respectfully around these important issues.”

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