Australian unis labelled ’ground zero’ in anti-Semitism fight

Julian Leeser – a ‘proud public Jew’ – has called for a judicial inquiry into anti-Semitism at universities, saying they risk losing funding and falling down international rankings.

Liberal MP Julian Leeser at Parliament House, Canberra.

Liberal MP Julian Leeser has called for a judicial inquiry into anti-Semitism on Australian campuses, saying our universities “have lost their way”, and risk losing funding and subsequently falling down international rankings.

Mr Leeser, who describes himself as a “proud public Jew”, used a key speech at Central Synagogue in Bondi on Friday evening to accuse university vice-chancellors of a “failure of leadership” and caring more about “adorning their own necks with AOs and ACs than ensuring the students in their care can get their own start in life”.

“For me, ground zero in Australia is our campuses,” he said.

Amid escalating tensions across key Australian universities where pro-Palestinian supporters have established encampments to protest the Gaza war, Mr Leeser said the nation was witnessing “a failure in propagating our Australian values” and “a failure in enforcing the law”.

“The idea that young Jewish Australians do not feel safe getting an education is anathema to me,” he said. “This moment profoundly matters for our entire country, because if any Australian student cannot feel safe on an Australian campus because of the religion they hold, then our universities are failing the principle test of character.”

Taking aim at Education Minister Jason Clare, Mr Leeser argued it was time for the minister to “step up”, and accused the government of being “hamstrung by Labor’s Corbynite left and its fear of the Greens and teals”.

Encampments have been established at several major universities including Sydney, Melbourne, Queensland and the ANU, inspired by the pro-Palestinian movement sweeping US college campuses where in-person classes have been cancelled and police have reportedly made more than 2000 arrests.

Australian protesters have issued demands for universities to cut ties with weapons manufacturers and Israeli research bodies, but vice-chancellors have said there is not yet any replication of the violence being seen in the US.

This is despite calls by Australian protesters – some of which have been led by young children – for an intifada, as well as public statements of support for Hamas, which slaughtered 1200 Israelis on October 7, and demands that Israel be “wiped off the map”.

University of Sydney vice-chancellor and Group of Eight chair Mark Scott told ABC radio on Friday the encampment at Sydney comprised about 60 people, representing less than 0.1 per cent of the student population.

“We’ve cancelled no classes,” he said. “Overwhelmingly, though, the encampment has been peaceful and, I think, respectful.”

While Professor Scott understood Jewish students and staff would prefer the encampment was not there, he rejected arguments the university was “an unsafe space” and confirmed it was carefully monitoring anti-Semitism complaints.

He said the university was trying to ensure the protests did not escalate. “If you look at what has happened in the United States, universities have taken action and the day after that, it’s more violent. It’s less safe. Universities are being shut down.”

Mr Clare said there was “no place for anti-Semitism, Islamophobia or racism of any kind in our universities or anywhere else”.

“Students and staff must feel and be safe on campus,” he said. “I have made it clear to all university vice-chancellors that there is nothing more important than the safety of students and staff on campus.

“We have got to work here to keep our community together, not let it get torn apart.”

Mr Leeser acknowledged that universities had a long tradition of protests where young people questioned and challenged authority, but argued the current protests were different. “They aren’t protests against authority,” he said. “They are protests against the presence of other students and staff.

“The conflict in Gaza is the thin veneer or the excuse to protest the presence of Jewish students and staff. In coming months, these protests will take full flight during university open days, because these protests are not about Gaza, they are about making young Jewish Australians feel unwelcome on Australian campuses.

“It is pure anti-Semitism.”

Mr Leeser revealed that when parliament resumed this month, he would move a private member’s bill to “establish an independent judicial inquiry into anti-Semitism on Australia’s campuses”.

He said he wanted a judicial inquiry conducted by a judicial leader who was “widely respected, and for that inquiry to have the necessary powers and protections that will give Jewish students and staff the confidence to come forward”.

The indicative terms of reference Mr Lesser proposed would allow the inquiry to report on the incidence of anti-Semitic activity at universities, including violence, intimidation and support for listed terrorist organisations.

It would also look at the use of university campuses to propagate anti-Semitism and the failure of universities to remove people impeding access to facilities or harassing other members of the university community.

The actions of vice-chancellors would also be closely examined, including whether they had set appropriate university rules and directions to guard against anti-Semitism, such as whether they had adopted a clear definition of what constituted anti-Semitism.

A proposed inquiry would also look at the adequacy of university security to protect Jewish staff and students, the power of universities to expel outside actors from coming to campuses to engage in anti-Semitic activity, and measures for disciplining staff and students for anti-Semitic behaviour.