Students and teachers reveal ‘harrowing’ anti-Semitic experiences at Melbourne universities

Students and staff have described how they’ve been spat at and threatened regularly at Victoria’s top universities since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

Students have recounted their experiences at Melbourne universities since the commencement of the Israel-Gaza war. Picture: David Crosling

Students and staff have detailed the harrowing experiences they’ve encountered daily at Victoria’s top universities since the Israel-Hamas war began, with some now avoiding their campuses as they don’t feel safe.

Several disturbing allegations regarding incidents at tertiary institutions have been made in a series of submissions to the Inquiry into anti-Semitism at Australian Universities, including Jewish students being spat at and staff being “threatened” by activists.

It comes after a video surfaced earlier this week showing pro-Palestine supporters at Monash University refusing to stand and pay their respects for the murdered Jewish hostages.

Jewish staff and teachers say they’re avoiding university campuses due to a rise in ‘hostility’. Picture: Jason Edwards

One Monash University Law and Arts student recounted how they’ve been called a “baby killer” while on campus.

“The hostility on campus (has) grown exponentially … I witnessed friends and classmates being physically attacked, having their shirts ripped and being pushed to the ground,” they said.

Another Monash student concealed their Star of David necklace, after a teacher didn’t erase a Palestinian flag drawing left on the whiteboard before the lesson.

“My tutor for that class pronounced – and I quote – ‘I’m going to leave this ‘Free Palestine’ sign up. If anyone disagrees with it, they can register their dissent’,” they said.

At the University of Melbourne, one third-year music student said the “hostility has reached a point where I no longer feel safe”.

Students and staff have complained about signs and behaviour from pro-Palestine activists. Picture: David Crosling

“I saw a Jewish man who was spat on and verbally abused by a young girl yelling ‘Free Palestine’,” they said.

A sessional RMIT lecturer also shared how they were threatened by a student after they removed a poster, adding they felt “genuinely scared for the first time in my life”.

A Deakin student added the recent encampment made them feel like they were “caught in a global web of hatred”.

Parents said they also felt “extremely fearful and anxious” after hearing about students’ experiences, with one parent’s child choosing not to go to uni next year because of the current climate.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) head of legal Simone Abel said these incidents weren’t “just a case of a few bad eggs”.

“The situation on the ground is dire for Jewish and Israeli students and staff, and a judicial inquiry will be a truth-telling exercise that exposes and addresses the problem before it’s too late,” she said.

A University of Melbourne spokesman says the institution recognises the destructive impact racism has on members of its community. Picture: Jason Edwards

A University of Melbourne spokesman said the institution recognised the destructive impact racism had on members of its community.

“The University is taking action to respond to and prevent racism at the University of Melbourne through its four-part anti-racism commitment released in January 2023 and the supporting Anti-Racism Action Plan,” he said.

RMIT Vice-Chancellor and President Alec Cameron said the university supported freedom of speech permitting it was lawful, adding the community “must continue to show respect for different views and perspectives”.

Monash Vice-Chancellor and president Sharon Pickering and Deakin Vice-Chancellor Iain Martin also acknowledged their respective universities were working on reducing anti-Semitism on campus in their submissions to the inquiry.

“Monash is supporting research and implementing major initiatives to build social cohesion strengthen dialogue and help to reduce tensions on campus,” Prof Pickering said.

“One of these is an action-based research program led by Associate Professor David Slucki (Director ACJC) and Dr Susan Carland (sociologist of religion at Monash University School of Social Sciences) to investigate specifically the nature and experience of antisemitism, Islamophobia and related prejudice, and to develop and test programs and initiatives that support campus cohesion, and further support safety in the classroom for all students and staff.”