USyd Staff To Meet On Universities Australia Antisemitism Definition
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Academics at the University of Sydney are set to hold a meeting tomorrow where they will attempt to prevent the adoption of a controversial definition of antisemitism from Universities Australia (UA).
The UA definition specifies that while criticism of Israel is not in itself antisemitic, “criticism of Israel can be antisemitic when it is grounded in harmful tropes, stereotypes or assumptions and when it calls for the elimination of the State of Israel or all Jews or when it holds Jewish individuals or communities responsible for Israel’s actions.”
The University spent almost half a million dollars on an external review to address concerns about antisemitism on campus, following mass student protests and pro-Palestine encampments last year.
It also adopted the UA’s new definition of antisemitism, alongside more than 30 other universities.
In an email to staff members, organisers of the meeting said, “This definition, which has been imposed on the university community unilaterally, treats criticism of Israel and of Zionism as likely to be antisemitic.”
“The definition constitutes a serious obstacle to staff and students’ intellectual freedom, and to our ability to campaign for an end to the genocide in Gaza, for the academic boycott of Israeli institutions, and for justice for everyone in the Middle East regardless of their faith, background or ethnicity.
“Our position is that no one kind of racism should be treated as more serious than others, including by being the object of standalone definitions.”
In a statement to CityHub, a spokesperson from the University of Sydney said “We’re aware a small contingent of staff have called a meeting to discuss this decision, and we’re speaking to key organisers to remind them of our shared obligations to protect the safety and wellbeing of our community and discuss mitigation measures to ensure respectful dialogue and appropriate supports.”
“We’re also in the process of establishing consultative groups, that will include representatives from our University, to discuss potential applications of the definition and determine our working approach towards assessing complaints and allegations – and we’ll communicate with our community once plans are confirmed.
“We recognise that the conflict in the Middle East is deeply personal for many, and that members of our community hold a wide range of views. While they do not represent the position of the University, we support the right of our staff and students to express their views safely – and continue to be clear that any form of racism is completely unacceptable and we will take disciplinary action as appropriate when breaches of our policies or codes of conduct occur.”
Definition debated across university groups
In a Student General Meeting on May 14, more than 200 students rejected the UA’s definition of antisemitism, where they also called for the endorsement for a single state of Palestine, and for the University to end the Campus Access Policy, which has been criticised for being “anti-protest”.
The National Tertiary Education Union and the anti-Zionist Jewish Council of Australia have both also opposed the UA definition, with the former writing that the statement “appears to have been developed without appropriate levels of consultation including with the Union, staff, students and other stakeholders representing diverse Jewish and Palestinian voices”.
“NTEU also recognises the urgent need to combat the recent rise of antisemitism in Australia and globally, but in doing so we also understand the potential for over-reach into actions and policies that undermine academic freedom and rights to freedom of expression. Despite our shared values espoused in paragraph one, regrettably the UA proposed definition of antisemitism, does just that.”
Dror Liraz, president of the University of Sydney branch of the Australasian Union of Jewish Students, told the Sydney Morning Herald that the definition had come after Jewish and Israeli students reported feeling unsafe on campus.
“If I told you China shouldn’t exist … if I told you, any country shouldn’t exist, you’d say I was racist. But how come, when it comes to Israel, it’s not racist?” she said.
“We had terrorist flags, we had chants of Intifada – that was very highly ignored by the university. It means blowing up school buses, it means random stabbings, it means bombings at petrol stations, it means shootings at shopping malls.”
The New South Wales Council of Civil Liberties said in March that the new definition of antisemitism was an “insult to freedom of expression and academic freedom”, and have written to the chair of UA to express their concerns.
“Universities should not be in the business of censoring legitimate views on geopolitics,” said NSWCCL President Timothy Roberts.
“Many academics advocate for a one-state solution in Israel-Palestine, many advocate for two states, it is not the role of university management to pick one and ban the other.”
“Academics must have the right to question whether the very structure of Israel legitimates credible accusations of apartheid, occupation, ethnic cleansing and genocide, the most heinous racial crimes imaginable. Suggestions that such work is racist goes against basic principles of academic freedom and stifles urgent discussions about serious geopolitical and legal issues.”
“Several disciplines in political theory call for the elimination of the state structure entirely. The Universities Australia’s definition is particularly dangerous as nations across the globe face increasing state repression which must be allowed to be questioned and challenged.”
Overnight, thousands of Israelis joined a government-funded march through the Muslim quarter of the Old City in Jerusalem, where crowds chanted “Gaza is ours”, “death to the Arabs” and “may their villages burn”.
Al Jazeera reports that at least 81 people have been killed in Israeli attacks across Gaza since early Monday, and video of a five-year-old girl attempting to escape the flaming wreckage of school hit by an Israeli strike has gone viral.
