Peter Dutton says anti-Israel campus protests should end as a pro-Israel rally held at Melbourne Uni
Australian Jewish students have countered what they say is rising anti-Semitism with a rally at a major university, as the opposition calls for campus protests to end.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said the pro-Palestine campus tent cities on several Australian university campuses should end, and says the Prime Minister is being weak on anti-Semitism.
“We wouldn’t tolerate it if it was a campus protest against people of indigenous heritage or people with Islamic community or people of tall stature or they were Catholic or they were Indian or Chinese or whatever it would be,” Mr Dutton told 2GB on Thursday.
“I think the Prime Minister really needs to stand up and show some backbone here and call for an end to these nonsense protests.”
Pro-Palestine camps have popped up at a number of Australian universities, following the example of tent cities at US universities.
The protest camp at the University of Melbourne sas set up on April 25, and in a week had grown to about 90 tents.
On Thursday, the Australasian Union of Jewish Students organised a rally at the university to protest the growth of anti-Semitism since the October 7 attacks which has led to the Gaza war.
There was a tense but peaceful stand-off between the group and the pro-Palestine campers.
Aviva Schon, 35, attended the rally because her family fled persecution in Europe, and as a Jew she feels intimidated for displaying her religion in Melbourne.
Ms Schon says she is the granddaughter of four Holocaust survivors.
Her grandmother is 99 years old and still bears the tattooed marking branded on her at the concentration camp.
“That’s why I feel I need to speak out, for them. The city should be a safe place for everyone,” she told NCA NewsWire.
“Division and hatred does not bring peace.”
Zionist Federation of Australia chief executive and University of Melbourne graduate, Alon Cassuto, led the rally.
“Ever since October 7, when the most Jews were killed in a day since the Holocaust, anti-Semitism has been on the rise,” he told about 250 people at the rally.
A pro-Palestine encampment set up at the university on April 25, and in a week had grown to about 90 tents.
Australasian Union of Jewish Students president Noah Loven said the camp, and others like it at universities around the world, were intimidating for Jewish students.
Encampments at Australia universities were “eerily similar” to the one at Columbia University in New York which displayed a pro-Hamas sentiment, Mr Loven said.
“This is Jew hatred,” Mr Loven said.
“We are here as proud Jewish students who are sick of the anti-Semitism which has no place in Australian campuses.”
First-year University of Melbourne psychology student Sophie Schwartz said she spent nine months in Israel last year. After the October 7 attacks which claimed the lives of 1200 Israelis and saw 240 taken hostage, Ms Schwartz said she spent three days in a bombproof bunker.
Ms Schwartz said when she returned to Australia and got on campus, there was overt anti-Israel sentiment which made her uncomfortable.
“We want nothing more than the sensitivity afforded to other groups,” Ms Schwartz said.
“We will not let them win and we will not let them take away our education.”
After the ralliers sang Advance Australia Fair and Hebrew songs, about 50 members walked the few hundred metres to the pro-Palestine camp.
At least 70 police officers were at the campus before the Jewish rally begun, and officers set up a perimeter around a section of the pro-Palestine camp, between the groups.
Both groups chanted and tried to sing louder than the other.
Tensions were only high when controversial Youtuber Avi Yemini arrived. His cameraman and security guard were there well ahead of the online personality.
Mr Yemini stood on the Israeli side of the divide, and the pro-Palestine side chanted about Mr Yemini’s domestic violence conviction.
It is believed someone lobbed a cup or possibly a bottle at Mr Yemini, which did not deter him and he filmed with pro-Palestinian supporters in the back of his shot, the sides divided by a shallow two-metre-wide man-made body of water.
The sides dispersed after about 45 minutes of stand-offishness, a few somewhat heated verbal exchanges but no physical confrontation.
There were concerns a physical conflict could kick off, as did in the United States overnight.
Supporters of Israel clashed with pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of California in Los Angeles.
And a headline-grabbing camp pro-Palestine camp in New York saw more than 280 protesters arrested this week as police stormed barricaded buildings at Columbia University.
Earlier this week, student organisers of an anti-Israel protest camp at the Australian National University declared Hamas “deserve our unconditional support” while saying they “do not condemn” the October 7 terror attacks.
Speaking at the Melbourne Jewish rally, Australasian Union of Jewish Students leader Holly Feldman said she would not hide her religion or culture.
“Hateful views only represent the views of a small minority of students,” Ms Feldman said.
“We as Jewish Australian students are not going anywhere. We refuse to dilute our identities.”
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