University of Sydney campus speaker Sami Hamdi said to ‘celebrate victory’ of Israel attack

A controversial Muslim commentator who told people to ‘celebrate the victory’ of the October 7 terror attack on Israel addressed the University of Sydney’s pro-Palestine encampment during a protest.

Student activists have put up tents to set up a protest camp site for Palestine at the University of Sydney. Picture: AFP

A controversial Muslim commentator who told people to “celebrate the victory” of the October 7 terror attack on Israel addressed the University of Sydney’s pro-Palestine encampment during a protest.

British commentator Sami Hamdi appeared at the sandstone university telling the crowd Israel is a “rabid Zionist project that wants to eradicate Palestine”.

Mr Hamdi, currently on an Australian tour, has previously had speaking engagements cancelled by Canadian universities for his comments following Hamas’s October 7 massacre.

Ten days after Hamas killed 1200 Israelis, most of them civilians, Mr Hamdi urged an audience to “celebrate the victory”, while wiping away tears.

“How many of you feel it in your hearts when you got the news that it happened? How many of you felt the euphoria? Allahu Akbar! How many of you felt it?” he said.

Canadian broadsheet newspaper the National Post reported in February this year that at least two universities had cancelled his planned speaking engagements after the controversial comments came to light.

According to his public events schedule, Mr Hamdi has already appeared at an event at a wedding venue in northern Melbourne and at the University of Adelaide.

Two weeks ago, he shared the stage with controversial anti-Israel Macquarie University academic Randa Abdel-Fattah in a five-person panel at Bankstown Sports Club Theatre in Sydney’s west.

On Tuesday, Mr Hamdi appeared at the University of Sydney’s pro-Palestine encampment which held a protest in response to the unfolding Israeli attack into Rafah, Hamas’s last stronghold in the Gaza Strip.

“The power that you are manifesting, that is making them panic so much,” he said. “When Biden and Netanyahu wanted to break UNRWA by cancelling the funding, EU ended up restoring the funding because of you!

“Australia restored the funding because of you! Canada restored its funding because of you!”

He continued with a list of countries that had restored funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency in Gaza, the chief aid agency that was enveloped in scandal following allegations at least 12 staff had directly participated in the October 7 attacks.

“Do not let them come at you with anti-Semitism for they are starting to rebrand what anti-Semitism is,” he said. “After the Holocaust – an anti-Semitic European phenomenon – the Jews went to the only haven they knew, they came to Muslim lands and Palestine and unfurled the banner, ‘please don’t do to us what the Europeans did to us’.

“Do not let them change history. The anti-Semites are the ones supporting genocide.”

The encampment protest at the University of Sydney has now remained standing for more than a week. Its protest on Tuesday heard chants of “from the river to the sea”, which Anthony Albanese on Monday said expressed opposition to a two-state solution.

A University of Sydney spokesperson, when asked about Mr Hamdi’s address and previous statements, said the university would “not hesitate to take disciplinary action where needed”.

“Political speech, even when confronting, is not necessarily a breach of our policies or codes of conduct – but we will not tolerate any form of racism, threats to safety, hate speech, intimidation, threatening speech, bullying or unlawful harassment on our campus,” the spokesperson said.

After The Australian contacted the encampment organisers for comment, they took down the video of Mr Hamdi from their Instagram account.

Mr Hamdi is scheduled to appear at the University of Western Australia and the University of Queensland in the coming week.

A spokesperson for the University of Queensland, when contacted for comment, said the university was now “considering” whether the talk should proceed.

“The venue booking was made prior to the current encampments on campus,” they said. 

“In light of the recent developments and calls for social cohesion on Australian university campuses, we are considering if the event should proceed and will advise organisers of the outcome as soon as possible.”

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin condemned Mr Hamdi’s appearance. “The fact that anti-Israel fanatics can openly support a listed terror organisation, vilify and abuse Jewish students, radicalise children in plain sight and profess their euphoria at mass atrocities, is an embarrassment to our institutions of higher learning,” he said.

“These individuals have no place in civilised society, much less being in the company of students. It is made possible by insipid leadership and it is a danger to our society.”

There were scattered protests on university pro-Palestine encampments across the country in response to Israel’s bombardment of Rafah.

At Deakin University, protesters appeared to be chanting “f**k off, Zionist scum” while filming and dancing in front of another person who was carrying a flagpole with both the Israeli and Australian flags. In another incident, The Australian has seen videos from the same campus of a crowd chanting “f**k, f**k, Zionists” as a man walked away with a large Australian flag.

Separately, University of Queensland vice-Chancellor Deborah Terry revealed she had reported some protesters to police.

In a memo to staff and students on Tuesday, Professor Terry said the university was “taking appropriate action, including having an inappropriate flag removed, addressing anti-social behaviour and escalating matters, where appropriate, to Queensland Police,‘’ she wrote.

“Whilst the vast majority of protest activities have been civil, there have been a few incidents from a small number of individuals that are unacceptable.”

The Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), the government regulator of universities, also said it had received two complaints about universities failing to keep students safe during protests.

“TEQSA is engaging directly with universities where protest activities are taking place to better understand how these universities are assuring student and staff safety and freedom of speech,” a spokesman said.

“Since 7 October 2023, TEQSA has received 2 complaints related to the conflict in the Middle East.”

TEQSA did not give more details of the complaints, but its outgoing chief commissioner, Professor Peter Coaldrake – who will step down this week – told The Australian that universities have “a very important obligation to protect freedom of speech.’’

“They also have a responsibility to provide safe environments for their staff and students and visitors,’’ he said.

“The balancing of all those is very complex.’’