‘Progressive except for Jews’ on campus

The political Left has become the principal source of antisemitism on Australian university campuses, with 84 per cent of Jewish students and staff identifying progressive groups as the main perpetrators.

That’s according to Professor Philip Mendes, Director of the Social Inclusion and Social Policy Research Unit at Monash University, who was speaking at a B’nai B’rith Armchair Society event on Tuesday.

He warned of an “unprecedented outbreak of antisemitic hatred within Australian society, most prominently within universities” since October 2023.

Professor Mendes argued that many progressives have adopted what he termed a “Progressive except for Jews” position, which he compared to what 19th century German Socialist leader Bebel famously called the “Socialism of Fools”.

The academic identified the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement as a key driver of campus antisemitism, stating it “essentialises not only all Israeli Jews, but also all Jews anywhere who identify with the State of Israel” as “evil oppressors to be targeted and attacked as the political enemy.”

Citing research including the Australian Academic Alliance Against Antisemitism (5A) online survey of 548 Jewish students and staff, Professor Mendes noted that progressive sources of antisemitism are “particularly concerning given the significant impact of such views within institutions such as universities, schools, the arts, trade unions, human rights and civil liberties bodies.”

He highlighted the case of University of Melbourne Professor Steven Prawer, who was subjected to months of harassment including death threats and an office invasion by masked protesters, as exemplifying the current crisis.

Professor Mendes criticised the Australian Greens for becoming “an institutionally antisemitic political party” since October 2023.

He identified three theoretical frameworks being misused to justify antisemitism: settler-colonial theory, critical race theory, and intersectionality.

Warning that “pro-racist views” have become entrenched in sections of academia, Professor Mendes called for both “high level institutional and grassroots interventions”, including universal education programmes and ensuring departments achieve balance and diversity of ideas.

Professor Mendes said perpetrators of antisemitism misuse concepts such as “moral panic” and the alleged “weaponising” of antisemitism to reverse the status of perpetrators and victims, while opportunistically leveraging support from tokenistic Jewish groups as alibis.

He urged that any anti-racist strategy must be based on two principles.

“Only perpetrators, never victims, are responsible for antisemitism” and “anti-racist solidarity with the Jewish community must include an absolute privileging of Jewish lived experience voices of antisemitism.”