Pressure to expel ANU pro-Hamas student Beatrice Tucker

The organiser of ANU’s pro-Palestine encampment protest said Hamas deserves ‘unconditional support’ and suggested the Israeli military killed ‘its own people’ on October 7.

A pro-Palestine rally at the Australian National University.

The nation’s peak Jewish organisation has called for the expulsion of an organiser of the pro-Palestine protest encampment at the Australian National University who said Hamas deserves “unconditional support” and suggested that the Israeli military “killed its own people” during the October 7 attacks.

Beatrice Tucker, a student representative on the ANU’s student association last year and an organiser of the pro-Palestine encampment on campus, yesterday said: “Hamas deserves our unconditional support”.

An ANU spokesperson did not condemn the position but instead said that “ensuring the safety and wellbeing of our students and staff is our top priority”.

“Our university policies guarantee freedom of speech, allowing all students and staff to express their views in accordance with Australian law,” they continued.

“However, we do not condone any speech that is discriminatory or violates Australian law or our code of conduct. Necessary disciplinary action may be taken if our codes are breached.”

When approached for comment, Education Minister Jason Clare said universities should enforce codes of conduct.

“Universities have student codes of conduct,” he said. “Universities should enforce those codes of conduct.

“I have made it clear to university vice-chancellors that there is no place for anti-Semitism or Islamophobia on our university campuses or anywhere else.”

Protest organisers Beatrice Tucker and Luke Harrison appeared on ABC Drive Canberra on Tuesday, where Tucker said “Hamas deserves our unconditional support”.

“Not because I agree with the strategy, complete disagreement with that,” they – Tucker goes by gender-neutral pronouns – continued. “But the situation at hand is if you have no hope, if you are sanctioned every day of your life, if you are told you are not allowed to drive down a road because somebody who is Israeli who gets preference and you sit there for twelve hours, the reality of lives …”

“But Beatrice, that can’t justify what they did in October last year,” the host interjected.

“Nothing can justify what has been happening to the Palestinian people for 75 years,” Tucker responded. “And essentially the UN coming in with the situation of a two state solution … You know the history of that place, of Palestine, the Palestinians before the UN came in with the two state solution actually were also under an English mandate, right? Palestinians were promised that they would have self determination.”

“I will not condemn what Hamas did,” they added.

Co-organiser and current education officer on the ANU student association Luke Harrison agreed, saying: “No, I do not condemn”.

When the host intervened and asked about Hamas’s murder and kidnapping, Tucker continued:

“Well, that’s actually, the thing about babies being killed, the numbers are quite false, right?” they said. “There’s been a lot of information, misinformation spread around about who killed who, right? And actually there is a lot of evidence to say that Israel and IDF themselves actually also did murder a lot of their own people, so …”

Since the interview’s broadcast, Mr Harrison said he wished to “withdraw [the] statement” and that he did “not give sufficient thought to the question the journalist had raised”.

“I want to make clear that I condemn what happened on Oct 7,” he continued.

“This is about justice for the people of Palestine,” he continued. “I wish to express regret for any distress that the previous statements caused.”

The ANU student association condemned the comments made by the student representatives.

“ANUSA condemns statements regarding Hamas made by students on ABC Drive on 30 April 2024,” president Phoenix O’Neill said. “These comments do not represent ANUSA’s views nor the views of the great bulk of our members.”

Beatrice Tucker.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Alex Ryvchin said the interview was a “chilling insight into the minds of supposedly pro-Palestine activists and the failures of leadership and education that have enabled this”.

“Aside from being pack rapists, child-murderers and cowards who deliberately kill civilians before hiding behind the people they claim they’re protecting, Hamas is a proscribed terrorist organisation in this country. Anyone expressing support for a listed terrorist organisation should not only face immediate expulsion from the university, they should face the law.

“The fact that young Australians can look with admiration at images of jihadists dragging young women by their hair to be raped and enslaved and feel they can express their support with pride and impunity speaks to the failure of leadership in our country and in our vital institutions.

“As we said in the immediate aftermath of October 7, this time in our history demands moral clarity and the strength and conviction to recognise those who do evil and to stand in solidarity with those who are fighting against it.

“Instead, with a few notable exceptions, our leaders have been too slow, too timid and too politically-minded to handle this crisis and the result has been laid bare for all to see in the form of counter-terrorism raids and the deplorable state of our campuses.”

Australasian Union of Jewish Students ACT co-president Mia Kline said Jewish students on campus were feeling “intimidated, isolated, and misunderstood on campus” and that the encampment was “morphing into something quite frightening”.

“Beatrice Tucker, ANUSA education officer in 2023 saying on air that Hamas deserve unconditional support is nothing short of jaw dropping.

“To also make comments as to Israel murdering its own people when questioned about the babies being held hostage in Gaza is incredibly offensive.

“To have members of ANUSA, the peak student body on campus who is supposed to be apolitical, make these comments reinforces the belief among Jewish students that their voices are not as valuable or legitimate as others.”

The ANU is one of a handful of Australian university campuses where students have pitched tents to camp overnight, demanding that the university cut ties with Israeli counterparts and weapons manufacturers.

Beatrice Tucker did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.