University of Sydney professor Sujatha Fernandes to avoid serious punishment after ‘Hamas rape hoax’ lecture
A University of Sydney professor who told students that Hamas’ mass rape and sexual violence on and after October 7 were ‘fake news’ will avoid serious punishment despite an investigation finding she breached the university’s code of conduct.
A University of Sydney professor who told first-year students that Hamas’s mass rape and sexual violence on and after October 7 were “fake news” and a “hoax” concocted by Western media will avoid serious punishment, despite an internal investigation finding she breached the university’s code of conduct.
The university is refusing to reveal what disciplinary action – if any – it had taken against sociology professor Sujatha Fernandes, who made the claims in April during a sociology lecture, accusing Western media outlets of “peddling” the rape “fake news” to “shore up support for Israel”.
Sources close to the investigation said it determined Professor Fernandes’s conduct “fell below the university’s expectations” and that disciplinary action would be taken, which would align with the enterprise agreement, together with measures to “mitigate risk of recurrence”.
Professor Fernandes declined to comment – citing thecase’s confidentiality – and a University of Sydney spokeswoman would not talk specifically on the matter or say what exact disciplinary action the university had taken. She said it now considered the matter “closed … following careful consideration in line with relevant policies and procedures”.
“While we are limited in what we can say, given our privacy responsibilities and obligations, we manage all matters in line with our enterprise agreement, code of conduct and other relevant policies, and have been very clear with our community about our expectations of behaviour during this challenging time,” she said.
“Our academic staff giving lectures must exercise their intellectual freedom according to the highest ethical, professional and legal standards and apply a best teaching practice approach incorporating evidence and analysis.”
According to the university’s enterprise agreement, Professor Fernandes’s conduct would not constitute a “serious” breach, which could lead to suspension or termination, and action would therefore likely be a written warning or counselling.
In April, Professor Fernandes said: “Western media has played the role of an ideological state apparatuses by suppressing coverage of the atrocities, peddling fake news (promoted hoaxes that Hamas beheaded babies and carried out mass rape, in order to shore up support for Israel), and distorting events”.
The claims were made after the UN found “convincing information” that hostages in Gaza had been – and likely continued to be – raped and subjected to sexual violence, and “reasonable grounds” that rape and gang rape happened during Hamas’s October 7 attacks.
Co-chief executive of The Executive Council of Australian Jewry, one of multiple complainants to the university, Alex Ryvchin said it was in the public benefit for management to show how students would be “protected from trivialisation or denial of terrorist atrocities, including rape”.
“The comments were completely unacceptable, especially in a place of higher learning,” he said, adding that declaring the matter as “closed” did little to restore the institution’s credibility.
Liberal MP Julian Leeser said students needed to have confidence in the university's process and safeguards, reiterating the need for a judicial inquiry into anti-Semitism at Australian higher learning institutions. “Students should not have to be subjected to conspiracy theories being peddled in universities, particularly not by academic staff,” he said.
In March, a UN report found there was “clear and convincing information” hostages held in Gaza had been subjected to sexual violence, including rape and sexualised torture, and that it had “reasonable grounds to believe” sexual violence, including rape and gang rape, took place on October 7 in “at least three locations”.
Its authors said they found “a pattern of victims, mostly women, found fully or partially naked, bound, and shot across multiple locations”. Although the evidence was circumstantial, they said, the pattern could indicate some form of sexual violence and torture.
It relied on witness accounts and “credible sources”, given the difficulty in gaining access to forensic evidence, partly due to the large number of casualties across widely dispersed attack sites, and that first responders prioritised rescue operations and recovering the dead. The report also found “clear and convincing information” hostages taken on October 7 were subjected to sexual violence.
“The true prevalence of sexual violence during (and after) the 7 October attacks may take months or years to emerge and may never be fully known,” the UN’s report said.
It also cited allegations that Palestinians detained by Israel had also been sexually abused.
Professor Fernandes also said a 2023 New York Times article on Hamas’s weaponisation of sexual violence had been “proved wrong time and time again” and was “not a real story”, saying the paper was a mouthpiece for Israel.
The New York Times defended its report amid accusations its sources and case studies weren’t airtight, pointing to how the sexual violence it reported aligned locationally with the UN’s findings.
In her lecture, Professor Fernandes used Israel as a case study on “power”, accusing Western governments of “repressing dissent at home” and stripping funding to Palestine aid organisations, and Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and “mass starvation”.
The Albanese government suspended funds to the UN Relief and Works Agency in January after allegations it had supported Hamas and homed some of its militants, although funding was later resumed after it had been reassured the organisation had introduced “safeguards”.
The ECAJ’s complaint – obtained by The Australian in May – alleged the conduct breached at least two clauses of the university’s code, and was not protected under its speech and academic freedom charter.
“The Jewish students in the class were shocked, felt unsafe and did not feel comfortable to speak up,” the complaint said, adding it went against the university’s values of “inclusion, engagement, respect and integrity”.
“We are aware that the students who have been impacted may be too intimidated and concerned of the consequences if they come forward and engage directly.”
It comes after a tumultuous six months for the university and its vice-chancellor, Mark Scott, who fronted a federal committee this week and will face NSW budget estimates in the next.
On Monday, Jewish organisations – in submissions to a commission of inquiry into anti-Semitism at Australian universities – said universities, including Sydney, enabled or tolerated the discriminatory treatment of Jewish students and staff, calling for a judicial inquiry into anti-Semitism with royal commission-like powers.
That same day, Mr Scott defended his $1.17m salary for a “complex and demanding job’’, but was accused by the Coalition of “gold-plating” the university from foreign students’ fees.
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