Western Sydney University chief Jennifer Westacott: ‘We will not tolerate hate speech on campus’

Two anti-Israel campus protesters at Western Sydney University were arrested and charged on Wednesday for allegedly assaulting security guards.

Anti-Israel protesters at Western Sydney University on Wednesday claimed a building in the name of the slain former leader of Hamas' political wing.

Western Sydney University chancellor Jennifer Westacott has slammed anti-Israel campus protesters, two of whom were arrested and charged for allegedly assaulting security guards.

“Western Sydney University condemns anti-Semitism in any form, full stop,” Ms Westacott told The Australian.

“We condemn Islamophobia, hate speech, intimidation and violence in any form, full stop. I cannot be clearer than that.

“We will not tolerate these behaviours on our campuses. This is now a police matter and we are fully co-operating with the police investigation.

“The safety and wellbeing of students is our priority. Universities should be places of intellectual challenge and the contest of ideas, but they must never be places of fear or intimidation.”

Peak Jewish groups have expressed outrage at Western Sydney University protesters who claimed to name a campus building after the slain former leader of Hamas’s political wing. In a social media comment, the protesters confirmed their banner, which read “Haniyeh’s building”, was a reference to Ismail Haniyeh, the former leader of Hamas’s political wing who was assassinated this year.

The protesters have scheduled a “cops off campus” protest on Friday at the university campus, saying two of its members were “violently arrested” in a case of “racial profiling”.

“Ismail Haniyeh was the leader of Hamas, a terrorist organisation listed in Australia, just like ISIS and al-Qa’ida,” Zionist Federation of Australia chief executive Alon Cassuto said. “Imagine students glorifying bin Laden on campus a year after 9/11.

“Failures in university leadership across Australia have emboldened students to think they can get away with glorifying a genocidal terrorist leader with no consequences. Western Sydney University must come out strongly … to condemn this behaviour and send a clear message to all students that this will not be tolerated.”

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry condemned the protesters for being “some of the most ignorant and brainwashed people imaginable”.

“It has taken a year for the anti-Israel movement to drop any pretence of supporting peace and Palestinian statehood,” ECAJ co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said. “It is now plain for all to see they’re only interested in war and Jewish destruction.

“In time they will undoubtedly turn up as Greens candidates or researchers for ‘human rights organisations’ but their proud support for a murderous anti-Semitic psychopath will follow them.”

Separately, University of Melbourne vice-chancellor Duncan Maskell sent a note to students and staff on Thursday after The Australian revealed anti-Israel protesters had trespassed and protested in a Jewish physics professor’s office and left only when police were called.

Victoria Police on Thursday confirmed it had been called to remove “around 25 people” from a university staff member’s private office.

“This type of behaviour is completely and utterly unacceptable and stands in direct opposition to the values we hold as a university,” Professor Maskell wrote. “There are no circumstances whatsoever where a member of our university community should be targeted in this way.

“Everyone has a right to be safe at work and this is enshrined in law. Colleagues also have a right to be able to do their job without being or feeling threatened. Intentional acts of intimidation, violence, vilification or anti-Semitism against members of our community will not be tolerated.”

He said such acts cannot be allowed to be repeated: “I exhort everyone in our community to come together and stand against such attacks on our colleagues and our values.”