QUT apologises to Jewish academic over ‘intimidation’ at anti-racism conference

A Jewish academic has received an emailed apology from the Queensland University of Technology over a public shaming incident.

UQ Associate Professor of mathematics and AI, Yoni Nazarathy, says he felt unsafe at an anti-racism conference run by QUT on January 24. Picture: John Gass

The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) has privately apologised to a Jewish academic who felt threatened with violence at its anti-racism conference.

QUT senior deputy vice-chancellor Professor Robina Xavier has written to Associate Professor Yoni Nazarathy, a lecturer in mathematics and artificial intelligence at the rival University of Queensland, to “apologise for your reported treatment at the symposium’’.

“It was unacceptable for any audience member to feel intimidated at the event,’’ she wrote in an email.

Associate Professor Nazarathy had purchased a ticket to the National Symposium on Unifying Anti-Racist Research and Action, organised by QUT’s Carumba Institute earlier this month.

A “Great Race Debate’’ on campus at QUT on the eve of the symposium included slides showing a superhero cartoon of “Dutton’s Jew’’ who “hates Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims, thinks of antisemitism as the only form of racism and is willing to hug (Opposition leader Peter) Dutton for photo ops’’.

Footage from a QUT event showed Sarah Schwartz, who leads the left-wing Jewish Council of Australia, speaking about “Dutton’s Jew”, accusing the Opposition Leader Peter Dutton of politicising the Jewish community.

In a separate presentation, the audience was shown a slide with the words “throat punch a racist’’ and drawings of people being punched in the throat.

Both slides were sent to The Australian.

A recording later emerged of Carumba Institute executive director Chelsea Watego, who is a QUT professor of Indigenous health, berating whoever had leaked the first slide.

During the closing session of the conference on January 24, she said the leaker had “put every person here at risk’’ because two journalists were sitting outside waiting to interview attendees.

“Shame on you,’’ she said. The audience repeated, “Shame, shame.’’

A different female voice from the audience shouted “Punch him in the throat!”

Laughter could be heard from the audience when Professor Watego responded: “No we won’t because I’ll be accused of promoting violence.’’

Professor Nazarathy said after the event that he had felt singled out, unsafe and humiliated as attendees rose to their feet and chanted “shame’’ while he remained seated.

QUT vice-chancellor Professor Margaret Sheil has publicly apologised for “hurt and offence’’ caused by the “Dutton’s Jew” presentation, given by left-wing Jewish Council of Australia executive director Sarah Schwartz.

She told The Australian on Saturday that she would hand all material from the conference to an inquiry to be headed by a lawyer or retired judge, and would not rule out a potential referral to police.

Asked if QUT would call security or police if someone shouted “punch him in the throat’’ on campus, she replied: “Obviously we’d call security.’’

Professor Sheil said all material from the conference, including recordings, would be handed to the reviewer.

“We will ask them to look at everything to do with the conference in relation to various kinds of conduct we expect of our staff and visitors, not just necessarily the academic code of conduct, which is you have to behave respectfully,’’ she said.

“I would take advice from the review.’’

The “Greatest Race Debate’’ was advertised as a public event to approach racism “courageously, intellectually, and humorously, in order to change the way we discuss and think about race and racism’’.

Associate Professor Nazarathy said the Indigenous speakers at the main symposium had his “utmost respect’’.

He said he attended because “due to the previous statements and actions of some speakers in the line-up, I was concerned that hate speech against Jewish and Israeli people would go unchecked’’.

“The second reason was to genuinely learn,’’ he said.

“I certainly did learn from many First Nations speakers and elders, and in that sense I got a much clearer sense of some of the racism issues that still exist in Australia today and their history, all through genuine and touching first-hand accounts.’’

Associate Professor Nazarathy said Palestine and Israel “for some reason was a central theme in this domestic conference’’.

“I was repeatedly hurt and humiliated by direct Zionist-vilification of the worst kind,’’ he said.

“This shone through the statements of speakers and the lack of acknowledgment of what mainstream Jews are undergoing in Australia today.

“The climax of this was my public shaming, together with a call for violence from one of the participants, which was followed by laughter.

“Throughout the conference, Israel – and mainstream Australia for that matter – was positioned as the ultimate enemy, without acknowledgment of the fact that two peoples, Palestinians and Jews, both Indigenous to the land, need to coexist.

“I am still processing this event and my public shaming and I am awaiting a formal media statement or apology from QUT.’’