University of Melbourne caves into threats as Israeli academic silenced

One of Australia’s most prestigious universities has cancelled a speech by an Israeli engineering academic after it had been advised the event would be ­‘severely disrupted’.

Israeli professor ‘cancelled’ from giving Melbourne Uni lecture.

One of Australia’s most prestigious universities has cancelled a speech by an Israeli engineering academic after it had been advised the event would be ­“severely disrupted”.

Professor Tal Shima, an aerospace engineer, had been scheduled to speak to a small gathering of staff and students at Melbourne University’s engineering faculty on Thursday, but the lecture was abruptly cancelled.

The Australian understands the faculty made the decision to cancel following a number of threats to disrupt it.

The pro-Palestinian group UniMelbforPalestine demanded the event be cancelled, citing Professor Shima’s position at the Israeli Institute of Technology. The professor has, among other roles, been dean of aerospace ­engineering, which the group claimed involved “researching weapons” used by Israel and which meant he had been ­“directly involved in the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza”.

It also claimed research ­organisations he worked for had been funded by the Israeli Ministry of Defence and the US Air Force.

On Thursday the Instagram page of the group – “a grassroots collective of University of Melbourne students, staff and alumni organising on campus for a free Palestine” – boasted that the event had been cancelled.

“Breaking news: Melbourne University’s engineering faculty has succumbed to our pressure and canceled (sic) its event hosting an Israeli professor complicit in the genocide in Gaza,” it said.

“Yet another win for justice and accountability by Melbourne University’s community against this corrupt Zionist management.”

A Melbourne University spokeswoman confirmed the lecture had been called off because of safety concerns.

“Following clear indications that the seminar was going to be severely disrupted, the faculty of engineering and information technology cancelled the seminar,” the spokeswoman said.

“Freedom of speech is respected and supported at the University of Melbourne, and is central to our values and identity. We welcome debate and protest on campus, providing it does not extend to violence, threat or intimidation.”

Professor Shima was unable to be contacted on Thursday. He is understood to be on sabbatical at the Australian National University.

It is unclear what he was planning to speak about at the lecture. The Australian understands the audience was expected to number fewer than 50 and he was also planning to meet with several Melbourne University academics.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Daniel Aghion told The Australian “if universities capitulate to campaigns of intimidation, it means that small bands of extremists will determine which nationalities and which ideas are allowed on campuses”.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Daniel Aghion. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

“This places the free exchange of ideas, for which universities exist, at risk,” he said. “We call for the invitation to be immediately reinstated and for the university to make clear that violent extremism and exclusion, on the basis of national origin, will not be tolerated.”

The cancelling of Professor Shima’s lecture comes at a fractious time in Australia between pro-Palestine and pro-Israeli groups following the events in Israel and Gaza on and since the October 7 terrorist attack that killed more than 1200 Israelis, and the subsequent invasion of Gaza by the Israeli Defence Force that has seen thousands of civilian deaths.

In November there were violent clashes between Palestinian and Israel supporters in the Melbourne suburb of Caulfield.

In March the Islamic Council of Victoria said its president, Adel Salman, had been subjected to an “Islamophobic smear campaign” by “Zionist propagandists” after reports he had publicly declared the October 7 attack a “legitimate response to the occupation and siege” eight days after it occurred.

His reported comments prompted the Jewish Community Council of Victoria to suspend relations with the ICV.

Singer Deborah Conway has also been cancelled from a number of writers festivals, theatre events and an appearance on the ABC after online trolling and threats from anti-Israel activists over her views about Israel’s right to exist and defend itself by destroying the terror group Hamas after the October 7 massacre.