Antisemitism at universities in the spotlight
Jewish leaders demand urgent action
Jewish community leaders have called for immediate and comprehensive measures to address escalating antisemitism at Australian universities.
They’ve presented the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights meeting in Canberra at the moment with a series of urgent recommendations.
Alon Cassuto, CEO of the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA), highlighted the critical situation, noting that 70 days after he and other Jewish leaders and students first appeared before Parliament, “we are still no closer to making university campuses safer for Jewish students and staff.”
He cited a recent troubling incident where a Jewish physics professor’s office at Melbourne University was ransacked by masked assailants.
Cassuto presented a comprehensive set of recommendations, including mandatory annual antisemitism training, adoption of the IHRA working definition of antisemitism, and prohibitions on certain forms of campus protests.
” It defies belief that Deakin University protestors were allowed to chant “F**k off Zionists,” “f**k off, Zionist scum,” and “f**k you, Zionist dogs”, Cassuto told the committee, saying that university leadership must be held accountable for creating an environment that allows such behaviour.
Simone Abel, Head of Legal at the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), stressed that antisemitism on campuses is not a new phenomenon.
“Anti-Jewish conduct has sadly become normalised,” she said, highlighting that many incidents go unreported and unresolved.
Abel argued that “when universities call out antisemitism for what it is—a type of racism—and show they will not tolerate it, things will change.”
Peter Wertheim, co-CEO of ECAJ, believes the issue is not lack of engagement with university executives, but the failure to take meaningful action.
“They have made the right noises. They’ve heard concerns and complaints from students and staff sympathetically, but frankly, that’s the reason we are in the situation we are today.”
“What’s new is the scale and severity of the issues, not their nature,” he explained.
The Jewish community leaders have called for a judicial inquiry, arguing that the proposed March report timeline is insufficient given the urgency of the situation.
“No other minority would be expected to put up with the sheer scale of hatred we have witnessed,” Cassuto told the committee, warning that despite current campus quietness during summer breaks, the situation remains a “tinderbox”.
Recommendations from the Jewish organisations include implementing specific protections for Jewish students, such as preventing the use of “Zionist” as a coded antisemitic term and adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism.
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