Children chant anti-Israel slogans at pro-Palestine university protest

Young children have chanted anti-Israel slogans at a controversial encampment of Palestine supporters at the University of Sydney, dialling up fears that the anti-Semitism crisis on the nation’s campuses is now out of control | Watch the video.

Children led in chants of 'intifada' at the University of Sydney Gaza solidarity encampment.

Education Minister Jason Clare and the University of Sydney have refused to directly condemn a protest on campus where children were made to lead others in anti-Israel chants, like calling for “intifada” and calling Israel a “terrorist state”.

Videos of a “kids excursion” to a pro-Palestine encampment protest at the sandstone university show children who look younger than ten leading each other in anti-Israel chants, in a move described by the nation’s peak Jewish body as “perverse and inhumane”.

The event was organised by controversial anti-Israel Macquarie University academic Randa Abdel-Fattah and ‘Families for Palestine’.

Earlier on Thursday, Dr Abdel-Fattah shared a post to Instagram promoting a “kids excursion to Sydney University”. In one comment below that post, someone asked, “I have a 2yr old and 4yr old and newborn. Will this be suitable?” Dr Abdel-Fattah replied, “we are bringing some colouring in and bubble wands. All kids are welcome.”

Children were clapped along by anti-Israel Macquarie University academic Randa Abdel-Fattah.

Children took part in the University of Sydney Gaza solidarity encampment.

This comes amid a continuing encampment protest at the sandstone university, where students and protesters since Tuesday have pitched tents on campus demanding that the university “cut ties with Israeli universities and weapons manufacturers”.

The protest follows similar protests on US college campuses.

When contacted for comment, Jason Clare did not explicitly condemn the protest and instead told The Australian that he had “made it clear to all university vice-chancellors that there is nothing more important than the safety of staff and students on campus”.

“There is no place for hate in our universities or anywhere else,” he continued. “There is no place for anti-Semitism, Islamophobia or racism of any kind.

“It’s incumbent on all of us to work to keep the community together, not let it get torn apart.”

A University of Sydney spokesperson said the university has “zero tolerance for any form of racism, threats to safety, hate speech, intimidation, threatening speech, bullying or unlawful harassment, including antisemitic or anti-Muslim language or behaviour.”

The university declined requests to interview its acting vice-chancellor and when asked whether calling for intifada was against its code of conduct, the university spokesperson said “Any slogans, chants or actions that can be reasonably interpreted as implying support for violence, terrorism or infringing the rights of others or threatening the well-being of staff or students will not be tolerated”.

An ‘intifada’ is an uprising against oppression. In the context of the Palestine-Israel conflict, the term ‘intifada’ is often related with the violent resistance on the part of Palestinians to Israel.

In those videos shared to social media, Dr Abdel-Fattah is standing in front of children and parents, clapping along to another child chanting into a loudspeaker calling for an intifada.

The audience sings along and children appear to come up to take a turn at leading chants.

In another clip, a child leads a march while chanting into a loudspeaker, “five, six, seven, eight, Israel is a terrorist state”.

Dr Abdel-Fattah has previously been the subject of controversy when she disseminated a leak of private details of hundreds of Jewish artists and publicly stated that “Zionists have no right to cultural safety”.

Randa Abdel-Fattah.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin condemned the behaviour and raised concerns about children being “groomed for violence and indoctrinated into extremism”.

“Compelling children to chant in support of an ‘intifada’, an explicit reference to Palestinian suicide bombings that killed and maimed thousands of Israeli civilians in cafes and nightclubs, is perverse and inhuman,” he said.

“Our country faces the very real threat of religiously and racially motivated violence, including by minors. This incident of children being groomed for violence and indoctrinated into extremism poses a serious threat to our society, and should be closely examined by government and law enforcement.

“By forcing children to repeat calls that Israel is ‘haram’, the organisers are attempting to convince Muslim children that Jewish Australians, who have deep emotional and historic bonds to the Jewish state, are their enemy. The organisers of this horrific spectacle want to split our country apart by inducting children into racial hatred and religious extremism. We cannot allow this to occur.

“Sydney University must remove and ban those involved from its campus before its reputation suffers permanent damage.”

Furthermore, Mr Ryvchin called on the Australian government to cease funding to Dr Abdel-Fattah and for Macquarie University to review her position.

“State and federal governments, police and our security agencies have all acknowledged the grave danger of youth radicalisation in the wake of the attack on the Assyrian bishop and the arrests of multiple teenagers for terrorism-related offences,” he said. “Yet at the same time, the government is funding an individual who has been filmed participating in the radicalisation of children, to the tune of $800,000.”

He was referring to Australian Research Council funding awarded to Dr Abdel-Fattah in 2022 – continuing to the 2025-26 financial year – for a total of $802,000 for a research program on “Arab/Muslim Australian social movements since the 1970s”.

“Abdel-Fattah holds an academic position at Macquarie University and is frequently invited to speak to school children,” Mr Ryvchin continued. “This hypocrisy has to stop. Coercing children to support suicide bombings and instructing them to believe that opposing the Jewish state is an Islamic duty, cannot be tolerated. It is a direct threat to our multiculturalism, social cohesion and safety.

“Our government and Macquarie University must end their financing of an individual grossly unfit to influence young Australians and must demand the return of public funds and review her position at the university.”

Opposition education spokesperson Sarah Henderon on Sunday called the behaviour “abhorrent” and accused the organisers of “indoctrinating children with vile, hateful, anti-Semitic slogans and chants”.

She accused Mr Clare of being “missing in action” and called on him to cancel Dr Abdel-Fattah’s ARC grant.

“There is no justification for the Albanese government continuing to fund a person engaged in conduct founded in anti-Jewish hatred which puts the well-being of children at risk,” she wrote in a statement on X.

“As for Minister Clare, I reiterate if he won’t throw the book at universities which fail to stop this alarming rise in antisemitism on campus, he must resign.”

Dr Abdel-Fattah and Macquarie University did not respond to requests for comment.