Universities not doing enough to deal with protests and ‘highly personal’ attacks, antisemitism royal commission hears | Royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion

A Jewish professor has told a royal commission that the University of Melbourne must show it “does not tolerate bad behavior” related to antisemitism after it was refused the expulsion of two pro-Palestinian student activists who occupied his office.

Physics professor Steven Prawer said Tuesday that he didn’t know at the time whether it was a “terrorist attack.”

On October 9, 2024, 20 pro-Palestinian students clad in keffiyehs, hoods, and masks occupied Prawer’s office for approximately 90 minutes, protesting the university’s partnership with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Prawer, who wears a kippa and identifies as a Zionist, is the academic leader of the universities’ joint doctoral program. After the incident, it was recommended that two protesters be deported and two protesters be suspended.

“This was only a year after the persecution in Israel, and so I was very uneasy,” Prawer said. “At that stage I had no idea whether it was a protest or whether it was a terrorist attack.”

Prawer called protesters’ claims that the university was complicit in genocide because of its partnership with Israel “ridiculous” and said the protest was a “deeply personal attack.”

“While there were 50 students protesting on the lawn and surrounded by security guards, they do not pose an imminent threat to an individual,” he said. “When there are 20 students in an office with one person, the equation is completely different.”

Vice-chancellor Prof Duncan Maskell later issued a statement to the university community saying he was “shocked and appalled”. Approximately 150 university employees and affiliates were detained after disciplinary action was taken against students in June. signed a petition Continuing the sit-ins was a legitimate form of protest. The decision was overturned by the academic board after an objection.

Prawer said he still did not know the identities of the protesters, although he hired a private investigator because he feared “Hamas connections.”

“I think for my own safety… I need to know who these people are,” he said. “The community needs to hear loud and clear that the university tolerates dissent but not bad behavior… Where is the deterrence?”

Indoor protests have been banned at the University of Melbourne following a sit-in at the university and the occupation of Prawer’s office.

The fourth block of royal commission hearings in Melbourne this week examines the lived experiences of Jewish students and academics, including universities’ responses to tackling hate.

A spokesperson for the University of Melbourne described Prawer’s statement as “strong” and acknowledged the “significant impact” the incident had on him and his family.

“The University provides ongoing support to Professor Prawer, and we support his right to pursue his academic work and research partnerships without harassment or intimidation,” they said.

Interim vice-chancellor Prof Glyn Davis will appear before the committee on Wednesday.

Tuesday’s witnesses also spoke of Jewish students being afraid to go to college campuses following the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack.

Paris Enten, a former Monash university student, spoke of her mental health “rapidly deteriorating” and of being “clinically traumatized” towards the end of her degree. The self-described Zionist said the trigger point was a Holocaust study tour in Europe during which some classmates claimed Jews were not “the main victims” and filmed “TikTok dances in Auschwitz parking lots.”

Jeremy Suss, president of the Union of Australasian Jewish Students (AUJS), told the commissioner he often “tried to comfort” undergraduate students who arrived on campuses “with a strong sense of anxiety” because of anti-Semitic incidents spread in the media and through word of mouth.

Suss attends Monash University and said he had a “productive relationship” with the chancellor’s office but was not immune to hostility on campus. He drew attention to the event organized by Jews on the occasion of the Sukkot holiday on the anniversary of October 7.

He later said that four men approached him and began questioning him “quite aggressively,” including mentioning “the killing or deportation of the entire population of Israel” and saying “we see you all at lunch every week.”

“I found this incredibly confronting… I had members at our AUJS events no longer pick up on their own,” he said.

“Guiding students through the difficult process of tracking their terrible experiences on campus is a new and ongoing task.

“Universities have not addressed the events in a productive or meaningful way. We have many students who have been waiting for months to hear back.” [about] events. “Sometimes they get rejected from the outside… Sometimes they never hear back.”

Writer, activist and academic Prof Dennis Altman criticized universities for what he described as a move to “stop the debate” on Israel-Palestine, adding that the best way forward was to build bridges between the Jewish and Palestinian communities.

He told the commissioner he was more afraid of “neo-Nazis” than pro-Palestinian protesters. The biggest problem universities have, he said, “is that they haven’t found ways to actually encourage respectful debate.”

“The trend has been the opposite. It’s been to shut down the debate. And I think that’s encouraged all kinds of conspiracy stories,” he said.

“What we need most on this issue in this country right now is mutual recognition that people are suffering. Social cohesion requires all groups to break out of their narrow focus and reach out to each other.”