Australian National University probe into claims of Nazi-inspired protests at student meeting

Allegations of a Nazi-inspired gesture have seen a student booted from a mass online student meeting at Australia’s national university, with campus authorities now investigating the latest shocking accusation of anti-Semitism.

An ANU student appears to mimic Hitler’s moustache.

Allegations of a Nazi-inspired gesture have seen a student booted from a mass online student meeting at Australia’s national university, with campus authorities now investigating the latest shocking accusation of anti-Semitism in the higher education sector.

Footage obtained by The Australian from the ANU student association’s marathon four-hour meeting on Wednesday night showed a student putting her finger up below her nose in a way that makes it look like Adolf Hitler’s moustache.

Separately in the same meeting, another student pointed their arm in a way that looked similar to a Nazi salute but it is understood they were not removed from the meeting.

The meeting, reportedly attended by about 570 people online at one point, was dominated by discussion about the pro-Palestine encampment that has been pitched on campus for over a week.

The student accused of mimicking Hitler was kicked out from the meeting for alleged “abhorrent discriminatory behaviour” and the allegations from the meeting are now being investigated by the ANU administration.

The Australian is not suggesting the students were making Nazi gestures, only that the allegations they did so are being investigated by the university.

The ANU allegations came amid further anti-Israel university protests around the country on Thursday.

Monash University protesters disputed with security as police installed a mobile surveillance unit, a protester at the University of Queensland reportedly threw a bollard through a classroom window during a rally against aerospace giant Boeing, and an encampment protest organiser at the University of Adelaide who previously faced extremism ­charges has been revealed not to be a student of the university.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus on Thursday declined to weigh in following a request by the ­nation’s top universities for guidance as to whether student protest chants of “intifada” and “from the river to the sea” were unlawful, pointing them to section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, which makes it “a civil offence to do a public act … reasonably likely to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate people because of race, colour or national or ethnic origins. ”

This is the second time in as many weeks that ANU pro-­Palestine protesters have allegedly performed anti-Semitic gestures.

A spokesman for the university said it was “investigating the matter”. “ANUSA is a student-led and independent organisation and the annual general meeting was ANUSA’s responsibility to manage,” he said.

“However, as the incident seems to involve ANU students, the university is investigating this matter. ANU will investigate the incident in accordance with the university’s existing processes and take action as required.

“To be clear, any racism or hate speech, including anti-Semitism, is unacceptable at ANU.

“The university acts swiftly if such behaviour occurs.”

Australian National University students during the online meeting.

ANUSA president Phoenix O’Neill told The Australian that “immediate action to exclude individuals was taken where alle­gations were brought to the attention of the ANUSA executive during the meeting”.

“This action was taken on the basis of the available evidence following an initial investigation,” they said. “We note that the allegations and findings made during the meeting are disputed by the students concerned.

“Due to privacy and fairness to students potentially involved, we cannot comment further on any individual matters. All students deserve a right to due process and fair consideration.

“ANUSA condemns and does not tolerate or condone any anti-Semitic conduct.”

Australasian Union of Jewish Students ACT co-president Mia Kline, who attended the meeting, said she felt “confused”, “let down”, and “misunderstood” ­afterwards.

In the meeting, Jewish students brought a motion asking the student association to – among other items – condemn Hamas, condemn the use of hateful slogans such as “intifada”, and acknowledge there was a “toxic culture, including anti-Semitism, within activist circles at the ANU”.

Those items were amended out of the final motion.

“It felt very baseline to say, we want you to condemn a terrorist organisation,” Ms Kline said.

In a statement, ANUSA’s president noted the student council in March condemned Hamas.

Ms Kline said it was “hypocritical” that the student association voted to denounce a social media post from encampment organisers that pro-Israeli protesters seemed like “they’re being paid … there’s quite a lot of them” but in the same meeting, deny that anti-Semitism existed among some activist circles.

“To bring in money again, it’s one of the oldest anti-Semitic tropes,” she said. “I don’t even think that’s the intention but that’s what they brought up again – Jews and money.”

After the meeting, the encampment organisers took to social media to proclaim “We won!”

“ANU students stand against the slanderous right-wing, ­Zionist attacks against the ANU Gaza solidarity encampment and pro-Palestine activism more ­generally,” a post read. This comes after the ANU encampment protest was engulfed in scandal last week when ­organisers went on radio to say “Hamas deserves our unconditional support”.

After the incident, the ANU student association withdrew its support for the encampment protest and one of its elected representatives who appeared in that interview resigned.

Beatrice Tucker, who said Hamas deserves “unconditional support”, is said to have been suspended from campus and will face a disciplinary hearing, according to an open letter in their support.

At the University of Queensland, a building was damaged on Thursday during a rally against the presence of global aerospace giant Boeing’s on-campus research centre.

It was reported one pro-­Palestine protester threw a “bollard” into the window of a classroom adjacent to the research centre during the midday march, which was attended by federal Greens member for Griffith Max Chandler-Mather.

Queensland police were in attendance but no arrests or complaints had been made.

UQ was unable to confirm whether it was a bollard that was thrown, but a spokeswoman for the institution said CCTV footage would be reviewed and forwarded to police. “We condemn the behaviour of one individual at today’s protest that was completely unacceptable,” she said.

“We are in daily contact with police and making a formal report, which will include CCTV footage. This behaviour is completely unacceptable and is being raised directly with protest organisers as a matter of urgency.”

Protest organisers on Thursday evening condemned the incident and distanced themselves from it, saying “no one involved in students for Palestine at UQ knows who this person is. They have not been camping with us, and have not attended any of our camp meetings”.

Separately, University of Adelaide pro-Palestine encampment organiser Habibah Jaghoori has been revealed not to be a student at the university.

Ms Jaghoori made headlines in 2022 when she was reportedly sacked by student newspaper On Dit for calling for “death to Israel” in an article and in a student meeting. She was later charged with extremism; prosecutors dropped those charges earlier this year.

“Habibah Jaghoori is not a current student,” a university spokesman said on Thursday.