"Dutton's Jew"Jews depicted as hateful, racist and malevolent

QUT ‘anti-racism’ conference anger

The slide was presented by Sarah Schwartz, the executive officer of the fringe, far-left group the Jewish Council of Australia.

A speech and slide presentation by Sarah Schwartz at the Queensland University of Technology.
A speech and slide presentation by Sarah Schwartz at the Queensland University of Technology.

The fallout continues from a controversial presentation at an “anti-racism” conference last week hosted by the Queensland University of Technology (QUT).

The event titled the “National Symposium on Unifying Anti-Racist Research and Action” featured a slide headed “Dutton’s Jew”, which said Jews who support Opposition Leader Peter Dutton “hate Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims”, are “anti-immigrant”, and “think of antisemitism as the only form of racism”, among other stereotypes.

The slide was presented by Sarah Schwartz, the executive officer of the fringe, far-left group the Jewish Council of Australia.

Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) president Daniel Aghion described the “Dutton’s Jew” slide as overtly antisemitic.

“It is ironic that such an obvious and disgraceful racist trope has been used at an event that billed itself as an anti-racism symposium,” said Aghion.

Zionist Federation of Australia President Jeremy Leibler wrote to Education Minister Jason Clare urging an investigation of what he called “this festival or hatred” hosted by QUT.

“This kind of rhetoric is recklessly dangerous following multiple domestic terror attacks targeted against Jewish Australians – and in a university ecosystem that over the past year has repeatedly endangered its Jewish students,” Leibler said.

QUT vice-chancellor Margaret Sheil issued a written apology after a phone call from Clare last Friday in which he reminded her of the university’s need to enforce its code of conduct and prevent antisemitism.

“I understand why the presentation at this pre-symposium event caused significant offence and I am sorry for the hurt caused to anyone within, and outside, the QUT community,” she said.

The incident may end up seeing QUT summoned to appear before the joint parliamentary inquiry on campus antisemitism.

Federal Labor Member for Macnamara Josh Burns, who is Jewish and chairs the inquiry, said while he was unable discuss the parliamentary committee, the inquiry is ongoing and that there will be potential for further hearings.

“Personally, the material used was completely irresponsible and one of the stupidest things I’ve seen in the past 18 months,” he said.

Julian Leeser, the only Jewish member of the Parliamentary Liberal Party, described the conference as “further proof of why we need a judicial inquiry into antisemitism on campus”.

Prior to the event, QUT had been warned about potential antisemitic content in the conference.

The Australian Academic Alliance Against antisemitism (5A) wrote to the university expressing concerns about speakers with a history of what they termed “anti-Jewish racism”.

UQ (University of Queensland) academic Yoni Nazarathy, a member of 5A, said he was “publicly shamed” at the symposium for being the only Zionist participant, after leaking photos and video of the “Dutton’s Jew” segment.

“This comes at a time where synagogues, cars, child care centres and more are graffitied and burned in Melbourne and Sydney, with other antisemitic attacks taking place here in Brisbane as well,” he said.

“It is a shame that the organisers of the conference did not use this moment to bring together all communities, including Jews like me that identify as Zionists.”

Schwartz has defended her presentation, which she said was part of a comedy debate criticising Peter Dutton’s political approach to the Jewish community.

She argued that her speech was intended to highlight political exploitation of antisemitism.

“Far right social media accounts have been sharing the slide of my speech title ‘Dutton’s Jew’ without any of the context. These groups promote dangerous disinformation which no one should take at face value,” she said.

But National Council of Jewish Women Australia (NCJWA) president Lynda Ben-Menashe said she was “horrified by the despicable promotion of classic anti-Jewish tropes and libels”.

She also took aim at media outlets that continue to “platform Schwartz as a spokesperson for the Jewish community”.

“These bodies are complicit, whether intentionally or not, in fanning the flames of racist speech and violence in our country and we are sick of our taxpayer dollars supporting this.”

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