Filmmaker, students urge Australian unis to take strong stance against anti-Semitism to stop hate

An Emmy-award filmmaker and college student are among those calling for world leaders and tertiary insututions to stamp out anti-Semitism and hate in a new film on the Israel-Hamas war.

Australian universities must take a strong zero-tolerance stance against on campus anti-Semitism or risk history repeating itself, the director of a new documentary on the aftermath of the Israel-Hamas war has warned.

Emmy Award-winning producer Wendy Sachs is urging university leaders to “shut down” harassment and hate speech that continues to infiltrate tertiary campuses amid the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict.

The director’s calls come as she prepares to release a new documentary in Australia that explores the explosion of anti-Semitism on college campuses, in social media and on the streets since October 7.

Emmy Award-winning producer Wendy Sachs is urging university leaders to “shut down” harassment and hate speech on campus. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

American actress Debra Messing and comedian and podcaster Michael Rapaport are among the activists and experts who feature in October 8 – a documentary that examines how “the tsunami of online anti-Semitism, propaganda and disinformation” divided United States communities.

Many of the film’s themes translate to events that occurred in Melbourne such as the weekly CBD pro-Palestine protests and university encampments.

Ms Sachs said the film was about “something much bigger and important” than the Jewish community and state of Israel.

“The film is about Islamic extremism and jihadism versus democracy in the west. It’s about the forces of socialism and Marxism that have really taken hand,” she said.

“We have such a big problem in Australia. You’re having the fire bombings of synagogues and of daycare centres, graffiti saying ‘death to the Jews’, swastikas … it’s very parallel to what we’re seeing in the States.”

It was only last week pro-Palestine protesters attempted to relaunch their encampment at the University of Melbourne.

While the institution successfully shut the movement down, Ms Sachs said all universities needed to be “strong upfront”.

Mechanical Engineering PhD student Talia Khan said the indoctrination of students was “very scary to watch”. Picture: October 8

Mechanical Engineering PhD student Talia Khan, who was studying at Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the time of the attack, said her life “turned completely upside down” in the aftermath.

“The protests and all the division happened immediately on October 7,” she said.

“We weren’t given the time or space to fully process what was going on, let alone to grieve.

“We immediately had to pull on our metaphorical fighting boots and put on our helmets because we realised we were on an ideological battleground.”

Ms Khan – who also featured in the film – said the indoctrination of students was “very scary to watch”.

“Now we’re seeing fewer large protests, but more ideological indoctrination and embedded anti-Semitism from the staff, faculty and administrators,” she said.

“That’s a lot scarier than the big protests because what they’re doing is they’re moulding the minds of the next generation of voters and leaders and that’s a huge problem – it scares me more than the big protests.”

October 8 is a new film coming out in Australia this year that investigates the "tsnumai of anti-Semitism" at universities. Picture: Supplied

Ms Khan called on Australian universities to better support students by simply enforcing rules and to not give “special privileges” to those who disrupt others.

As for what she wanted people to take away from the October 8 film, Ms Khan said: “what happened on campus is not about politics”.

“What happened on campus was hate, bullying, support for terror and an incitement of violence that put people’s lives at risk,” she said.

“If this happened to any other minority group, I mean, it just wouldn’t have happened … it’s not about politics. It’s not about policy. It was just about hating a group of people.”

October 8 is anticipated to debut in Australian cinemas and on streaming platforms in the next few months.

Originally published as Filmmaker, students urge Australian unis to take strong stance against anti-Semitism to stop hate