Antinuclear

Israeli Defence Force courts Australian universities amid anti-war protests

Michael West Media, by Wendy Bacon and Yaakov Aharon | Apr 5, 2025

Hundreds of university staff and students in Melbourne and Sydney called on their Vice-Chancellors to cancel pro-Israel events this week. Wendy Bacon and Yaakov Aharon with the story.

While Australia’s universities continue to repress pro-Palestine peace protests, they gave the green light to pro-Israel events this week, sparking outrage from anti-war protestors.

Israeli lobby groups ‘StandWithUs Australia’ (SWU) and ‘Israel-IS’ organised a series of university events this week which featured Israel Defense Force (IDF) reservists who served during the war in Gaza, two of whom lost family members in Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023.

The events were promoted as “an immersive VR experience with an inspiring interfaith panel” discussing the importance of social cohesion, on and off campus.”

Hundreds of staff and students at Monash, Sydney Uni, UNSW and UTS signed letters calling on their universities to “act swiftly to cancel the SWU event and make clear that organisations and individuals who worked with the Israel Defense Forces did not have a place on UNSW campuses.”

SWU is a global charity organisation which supports Israel and fights all conduct it perceives to be ‘antisemitic’. It campaigns against the United Nations and International NGOs’ findings against Israel and is currently supporting actions to suspend United States students supporting Palestine. It established an office in Sydney in 2022 and Michael Gencher, who previously worked at the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, was appointed as CEO.

The event’s co-sponsor Israel-IS is a similar propaganda outfit whose mission is to “connect with people before they connect with ideas” particularly through “cutting edge technologies like VR and AI.” Among their eighteen staff, one employee’s role is ‘IDF coordinator’’ by while two employees serve as ‘Heads of Influencer Academy’.

The events were a test for management at Monash, UTS, UNSW and USyd to see how far each would go in cooperating with the Israel lobby.

Events cancelled

At Monash, an open letter criticising the event was circulated by staff and students. The event was then cancelled without explanation.

At UNSW, 51 staff and postgraduate students signed an open letter to Vice Chancellor Atilla Brungs, calling for the event’s cancellation. It was signed on their behalf by Jessica Whyte, an Associate Professor of Philosophy in Arts and Law and Noam Peleg, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law and Justice.

Prior to Wednesday morning’s scheduled event, MWM sent questions to UNSW. After the event was scheduled to occur, the university responded to MWM, informing us that it had not taken place.

As of today, two days after the event was scheduled, Vice-Chancellor Brungs has not responded to the letter.

UTS warning to students

The UTS branch of the Australasian Union of Jewish Students partnered with Israel-IS in organising the UTS event, in alignment with their core ‘pillars’ of Zionism and activism. The student group seeks to “promote a positive image of Israel on campus” to achieve its vision of a world where Jewish students are committed to Israel.

UTS Students’ Association, Palestinian Youth Society and UTS Muslim Student Society wrote to management but Deputy Vice-Chancellor Kylie Readman rejected pleas. She replied that the event’s organisers had guaranteed it would be “a small private event focused on minority Israeli perspectives” and that speakers would only speak in a personal capacity.

While acknowledging the conflict in the Middle East was stressful for many at UTS, she then warned students, “UTS has not received formal notification of any intent to protest, as is required under the campus policy. As such, I must advise that any protest activity planned for 2nd April will be unauthorised. I would urge you to encourage students not to participate in an unauthorised protest.”

Students who allegedly breach campus policies can face disciplinary proceedings that can lead to suspension.

UTS Student Association President Mia Campbell told MWM, “The warning given by UTS about protesting definitely felt intimidating and frightening to a number of students, including myself. Especially as a Law student, misconduct allegations can affect your admission to the profession… but with all other avenues of communication exhausted between us and the university, it felt like we didn’t have a choice.

“I don’t want to look back on what I was doing during this genocide and have done any less than what was possible at the time.“

A UTS student reads the names of Gaza children killed in Israel’s War on Gaza. Photo by Wendy Bacon.

The UTS protest was sombre but quietly angry. Speakers read from lists naming dead Palestinian children.

One speaker, who has lost 120 members of his extended family in Gaza, explained why he protested. We have to “be backed into a corner, told we can’t protest, told we can’t do anything. We’ve exhausted every single policy…Add to all that we are threatened with misconduct.”

“Do you think we can stay silent while there are people on campus who may have played a part in the killings in Gaza?”

SWU at University of Sydney

University of Sydney staff and students who signed an open letter received no reply before the event. 

Activists from USyd staff in support of Palestine, Students Against War and Jews Against the Occupation ‘48 began protesting outside the Michael Spence building that houses the university’s senior executives on Wednesday evening.  

Escorted by UTS security, three SWU representatives arrived. A small group was admitted. Soon afterwards, the participants could be seen from below in the building’s meeting room. A few protesters remained and booed the attendees as they left. These included Mark Leach, a far right Christian Zionist and founder of pro-Israeli group Never Again is Now. Later on X, he condemned the protesters and described Israel as a “multi-ethnic enclave of civilisation.”

Several student activists have received letters recently warning them about breaching the new USyd code of conduct regulating protests. USyd has also adopted a definition of anti-semitism which critics say could restrict criticism of Israel. It has been slammed by the Jewish Council of Australia as “dangerous” and “unworkable”.

A Jews against Occupation ’48 speaker, Judith Treanor, said, “Welcoming this organisation makes a mockery of this university’s stated values of respect, non-harassment, and anti-racism. In the context of this university’s adoption of draconian measures to stifle freedom of expression in relation to Palestine, the decision to host this event promoting Israel reveals a shocking level of hypocrisy and a huge abuse of power.”………………………………………………………………………. https://michaelwest.com.au/idf-courts-australian-universities-amid-anti-war-protests/

April 10, 2025 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized