Students turn backs on Jewish peers at meeting to reject antisemitism definition
'We need to be fighting against Israel, against racism, against antisemitism, against anti-Arab racism, and against apartheid'
In a display that Jewish community leaders have branded “openly antisemitic,” scores of University of Sydney students literally turned their backs on Jewish students speaking against motions at a Student Representative Council (SRC) General Meeting held on May 14.
The meeting was primarily convened to reject the university’s newly adopted antisemitism definition—endorsed by almost all Australian universities—and formally call for the elimination of Israel.
The controversial meeting, which initially struggled to reach quorum, passed five motions that Jewish representatives say represent “fringe extremist views” rather than the majority student opinion.
Most dramatically, when Jewish postgraduate student Kovi Rose condemned Hamas—a proscribed terrorist organisation—a large majority of the approximately 200 students present stood up and physically turned their backs.
“We need your help… you’re meant to stand for solidarity for minority groups on campus,” Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS) public affairs coordinator Jack Mars pleaded with fellow students. “Quite frankly, we feel abandoned. You turn your back on us… You say it’s all some sort of conspiracy to silence criticism of Israel. That’s ridiculous.”
Controversial Motions Passed
Central to the meeting was the passage of motions, brought by the group “Students Against War”, rejecting the new definition of antisemitism adopted by all Australian universities in February and reaffirming calls for “a single, secular, democratic state across all of historic Palestine.” Additional motions demanded the university revoke its anti-protest Campus Access Policy, end exchange programs with Israeli universities, and commit SRC resources to campaigns against the university’s ties with Israel.
Anti-Israel activists speaking at the meeting claimed Israel had “no right to exist” and declared there was “no such thing as Jewish self-determination in Israel.”
One speaker supporting the motions argued: “Zionism is not the same as Judaism and to conflate them is antisemitism… we need to be fighting against Israel, against racism, against antisemitism, against anti-Arab racism, and against apartheid.”
Another advocate for the abolition of Israel stated: “To call for the end of apartheid is a completely justified reaction to what we’ve witnessed for the past year and a half, which is slaughter, ethnic cleansing, genocide, apartheid. As long as the state of Israel exists, western states will give it complete impunity to kill as many Palestinians as they want. We want the killing to end, we need the fall of apartheid.”
Jewish Students Challenge Motions
Jewish students who spoke against the motions challenged the assembly to consider why non-Jewish students felt entitled to define antisemitism.
“Anti-Zionism currently takes all of the evils of the world like colonialism, white supremacy, and genocide, and projects them onto the Jewish people,” Rose told the room. “All that Jewish students are asking for is the right to determine for themselves and not be told by their detractors what it means to be Jewish, what it means to be discriminated against and what it means to be anti-Semitic.”
Mars said, “This definition does not stop you from criticising Israel… it stops you from using antisemitic tropes to do that! Go for your life – criticise policy, criticise the government, criticise Bibi Netanyahu. I don’t think calling for the elimination of an entire country is acceptable. It would not be accepted for any other country.”
Jewish Community Response
Peak Jewish bodies have condemned the meeting and called for the university to disavow the motions.
Michele Goldman, CEO of the Jewish Board of Deputies, acknowledged university efforts to ensure the meeting proceeded smoothly but stated: “The core purpose of the meeting was to vote on motions that were inherently racist.”
Mars described the meeting as “emotionally draining” where “many comments made cut to the core of our identity.”
“At every stage where there has been an opportunity to engage, and listen to us and take us seriously, they prefer to claim that we’re making it all up… That it’s all part of some conspiracy to attack free speech,” Mars said. “There’s clearly a culture problem on campus that’s been allowed to develop which has allowed things like this to blossom… It’s going to take a lot of work to correct that culture.”
Simone Abel, Head of Legal at Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), warned that while the motions would have “zero consequence for the suffering of Israelis and Palestinians alike in a faraway conflict,” they would have “real consequence for Jewish and Israeli students here.”
David Knoll, a director of the Australian Academic Alliance against Antisemitism (5A), called it “profoundly racist to deny the right of self-determination to the Jewish people and only the Jewish people”.
“Any reasonable person would expect the University to disavow and disassociate itself from this resolution quickly and firmly,” he said.
University Position
A University of Sydney spokesperson told The AJN that student representative and student-led groups operate independently and do not represent the views of the University.
“We are aware nearly 200 students attended the meeting, which represents a small fraction of our total student body. Members of student representative bodies are required to abide by our policies and codes of conduct and we don’t hesitate to take appropriate disciplinary and other action when we determine there has been a breach,” the spokesperson said.
“Ahead of the meeting we liaised with key members of relevant student groups, and reminded them of their obligations to manage their meetings in a way that is respectful of the opinion of others and that all students must conduct themselves in accordance with the University’s policies and the law.
“The definition of antisemitism developed by the Group of Eight universities and endorsed by Universities Australia has been added to our resources accompanying our anti-racism statement, and will be used by decision makers to assess complaints and allegations of antisemitism.”
Jewish community organisations continue to press for a judicial inquiry into antisemitism on campuses and express ongoing concern about the environment of extremism at Australian universities.
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