Academic Randa Abdel Fattah brands critics ‘white supremacists’ over her anti-Israeli activism

Pro-Palestine academic who led a uni protest where kids as young as five chanted ‘intifada’ vows to fight to keep her $837,174 taxpayer-funded research grant, saying her critics will ‘burn’ over attempts to cancel the money.

Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah is the recipient of a taxpayer-funded Australian Research Council grant. Photo by Chris Pavlich for The Australian

Anti-Israel activist Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah has attacked her critics as “white supremacists’’, and vowed to fight to keep her $837,174 taxpayer-funded research grant.

Dr Abdel-Fattah – who posted an image of a Palestinian parachutist as her Facebook cover photo the day after Hamas terrorists parachuted into Israel to murder and kidnap hundreds of civilians on October 7 last year – is being investigated by her employer, Macquarie University, over her anti-Israeli activism.

Dr Abdel-Fattah led a protest of school students at the rival University of Sydney campus last Friday, when children as young as five could be heard chanting “intifada’’ and “Israel is a terrorist state’’.

Academic Dr Randa Abel-Fattah updated her Facebook profile with the image of a parachutist in the colours of the Palestinian flag, a day after Hamas terrorists parachuted into Israel to murder and kidnap hundreds of civilians.

The University of Sydney is now investigating alleged violations of its code of conduct in relation to the pro-Palestinian encampment protests, vice-chancellor Professor Mark Scott revealed on Wednesday.

“In recent days we’ve become aware of a number of alleged instances of unacceptable conduct associated with the encampment,” he wrote in an all-staff email on Wednesday.

Professor Scott listed a number of violations, including protesters entering buildings and harassing staff, graffiti on walls, a truck driver making an unauthorised delivery to the encampment and spitting at staff, and protesters blocking a road.

His email said the university was “investigating these violations of our policies in the usual way, including co-operating with police investigations where alleged unacceptable conduct might have broken the law”.

He warned that university buildings may be placed in a “secure mode” in the interests of safety and require card access.

And he threatened “firm and decisive disciplinary action” on staff and students who disrupt classes, harass other staff or students, prevent free movement around campus, or damage property.

Parts of the University of Queensland were locked down on Wednesday after pro-Palestinian protesters stormed two of the main buildings. Federal Opposition education spokeswoman Senator Sarah Henderson is demanding the federal government cancel Dr Abdel-Fattah’s Australian Research Council (ARC) grant of $837,174, awarded in 2022 for a four-year research project, Arab/Muslim Australian Social Movements since the 1970s: a hidden history.

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare is refusing to intervene, and Dr Abdel-Fattah used social media on Tuesday to defend her taxpayer grant.

“When Zionists demand my fellowship be cancelled, they are purposefully targeting me and the next generation of Arab and Muslim women academics,’’ she wrote on X.

“They see to eliminate us from the academy because our voices, knowledge production and impact threaten the White supremacist status quo they so desperately seek to maintain.

Writing on X, academic Dr Randa Abdul-Fattah has hit back at her critics.

“They grossly underestimate me.

“White supremacists are cowards who slink around corridors of power and throw matches at the grassroots.

“But they can never match our spirit and power.

“They burn down. We just keep rising and growing.’’

Writing on X, academic Dr Randa Abdul-Fattah labels her critics as “white supremacists”.

Senator Henderson has written to Mr Clare demanding that he cancel Dr Abdel-Fattah’s research grant, on the grounds of her conduct.

She said Dr Abdel-Fattah had co-hosted the kids’ excursion to the University of Sydney last Friday, leading very young children to chant anti-Israel and anti-Jewish slogans.

“This indoctrination of children not only fuels anti-Jewish hatred but puts the wellbeing of these children at risk,’’ she wrote.

“Australian taxpayers should not be funding such activism and hate speech under the guise of so-called research.’’

Mr Clare yesterday criticised the involvement of school children at the pro-Palestinian rallies.

“It is never okay to fill kids’ minds with hate,’’ he said.

“There is no place for hate in our universities or anywhere else and it’s never okay to involve kids in things like this.

“There is no place in our country for antisemitism, Islamophobia or racism of any kind.

“Students and staff must feel and be safe on campus.’’

The Institute for Palestine Studies has published a provocative essay by Dr Abdel-Fattah dismissing the “mass rape claims’’ against Hamas terrorists on October 7.

“Israeli and US government claims of mass sexual assault are not the ‘believe women’ or #MeToo flex that they think it is,’’ she wrote.

“We are confronted with the political reality that sexual assault against Israeli women is being weaponised in the service of manufacturing consent for genocide against Palestinian men, women and children in Gaza.’’

Video footage shows a savage Hamas attack on the Supernova festival in the Israeli desert on October 7, when more than 250 young concertgoers were shot dead and others taken hostage.

The terrorists paraded the body of Shani Louk, a 22-year-old Israeli-German national, stripped to her underwear and lying face-down in the back of a pick-up truck.

The ARC yesterday said grant agreements are signed with universities, and not individual researchers.

“These agreements set clear obligations on universities about conduct of researchers and staff employed by them, to ensure Commonwealth funds are invested in high-quality research,’’ a spokesman said.

“The ARC can, and does, terminate funding agreements with administering organisations and recover funds where those obligations have been breached.

“This would require clear evidence of a failure to meet obligations regarding the quality and timeliness of research being conducted under the project.’’

The ARC spokesman said that “social media and other activities’’ by researchers are “for the employer to manage’’.

“Any employment matter requires an employer and employee to follow due process,’’ it states.

“Where (universities) take disciplinary action against researchers, including termination of employment, ARC funding agreements provide for cessation of the project, including return of some or all of the grant funds.’’

Dr Abdel-Fattah did not respond to questions from The Australian yesterday about why she had chosen the Palestinian parachute image for her Facebook profile, or whether children had been pulled out of school to attend the rally on Friday.