Sydney Uni appoints antisemitism ‘lecturer’, forgets to tell anybody

University of Sydney Vice-Chancellor Mark Scott appointed a special adviser for its antisemitism education program but forgot to tell anyone until months later. C.Athy Peters And Wendy Bacon with story.

The man chosen for the role of Sydney University’s chief antisemitism officer is Michael Abrahams-Sprod, Head of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies. His remit is to help launch a training program for ‘frontline’ staff on issues facing the Jewish community, including antisemitism in ‘contemporary settings’.

University staff only learned of the appointment via a staff intranet notification last week. University spokesperson said MWM He said Abrahams-Sprod’s new position begins on January 1, 2026 and runs until December 2027. Asked to specify the date the position was approved and from whom the Vice-Chancellor sought advice, the spokesperson said it was approved following the recommendation of the USyd Senate Committee on People, Culture and Security on 6 March 2026.

This was two months after Abrahams-Sprod took up her role as special counsel. She was previously the campus coordinator of the University of Sydney’s branch of the pro-Israel Australian Academic Alliance Against Antisemitism, working alongside Special Envoy to Counter Antisemitism, Jillian Segal.

This MWM The investigation may also reveal that Abrahams-Sprod was funded by the University to work on anti-Semitism issues even before her new appointment. In 2025, in collaboration with Special Antisemitism Ambassador Jillian Segal and the Jewish Museum of Sydney, she developed an antisemitism awareness training program funded by the Universities of Sydney and Melbourne.

Antisemitism education program

In her new role, Abrahams-Sprod will deliver 12 sessions to 120 USyd staff across key areas including Human Resources, Safeguarding and Risk Services, the Student Affairs Unit and the Office of the Vice-Chancellor, in conjunction with the Jewish Museum of Sydney. These key frontline staff administer policies, communicate with staff and student staff, and respond to complaints.

After completing the training of administrative staff, Abrahams-Sprod will recommend that all staff be trained under “a comprehensive anti-racism framework that will be consistent with the expectations of the Australian Human Rights Commission”.

In reply MWM In response to questions, a spokesman said Abrahams-Sprod’s appointment recognized “her unique skills and experience, her ongoing work supporting our Jewish community and the wider community, and her current role as an academic leader at the University”. He will “consult with relevant communities…on how to combat anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination and build a safe and welcoming campus for all.”

Abrahams-Sprod’s appointment is a victory for the pro-Israel lobby.

Likewise, it aims to silence other staff and students and deter protests in support of Palestine.

Exception claims

Last week USyd’s Palestine Staff called on Mark Scott to revoke his appointment as Special Adviser and remove the role.

They accused the university of ‘being exceptional’ and pointed to a recent situation. Australian Human Rights Commission finding High rates of racism experienced by students and staff of First Nations, African, Asian, Jewish, Maori, Middle Eastern, Muslim, Palestinian and Pacifica origins.

One open letterThey noted that “by creating a unique special advisory role for antisemitism, the university has signaled that racism against Jews is uniquely prioritized over other forms of discrimination.”

Statement by the University of Sydney Palestine Staff on the appointment of a special advisor to the university on antisemitism. We call on Vice-Chancellor Mark Scott to reverse this appointment and remove the special advisor role. pic.twitter.com/gXF0DlsiyT

— BDS Sydney Staff (@sydneystaff4bds) April 1, 2026

Abrahams-Sprod will work across the university sector to meet the requirements of Segal-appointed former conservative Australian Catholic University VC Greg Craven, who has been tasked with overseeing the punitive universities Report Card initiative.

Like reported In the Guardian, Craven accused universities of being “a major factor in making antisemitism respectful” and described campus protesters as “mutant radical groups”. Public funding may be withheld from universities found to have “facilitated, enabled or failed to act against anti-Semitism”.

Antisemitism education. Labor’s march towards authoritarianism

Jillian Segal Plan to Combat Antisemitism Extensive allegations are made about antisemitism in Australian universities. was strongly criticized By the Australian Human Rights Institute.

The assessment will be based on the IHRA’s controversial definition of antisemitism. This definition is rejected by many Australian university staff and students, including Jews and students of Middle Eastern descent, whose families deal with the daily horrors of Israel’s genocide, violent occupation, bombings, denial of humanitarian aid and other war crimes.

bowing to Zionist pressure

Abrahams-Sprod’s appointment, from October 2023, can be seen as a response to sustained pressure from Abrahams-Sprod and other Zionist staff on senior university administrators to discipline staff and students over pro-Palestinian advocacy. Zionist leaders described ($) as Scott

“Arrogant and dismissive” at a meeting in April 2024.

Their anger at anti-Israeli sentiment was compounded by the start of the student camp that month.

Scott’s initial response was to maintain neutrality on the protest and reassure the university community that he understood the protesters’ right to peacefully assemble and their right to free speech.

But by July 2024, following the two-month dispersal of the Gaza camp, USyd took defensive action by implementing its new Campus Access Policy, which greatly restricts future student or staff protests and political discourse. This policy was roundly criticized, including by the university’s Faculty of Law. I published this open letter.

Further bowing to concerted pressure on Scott and the university, Bruce Hodgkinson commissioned an external review of the AM SC into the university’s handling of allegations of campus antisemitism related to the camp. External Review Report He made 15 recommendations, including strengthening restrictions on protests and introducing the New Civilization Rule, which provides for severe penalties for violations of the rule.

In September 2024, Mark Scott regretted it he apologized to Jewish students and staff at the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislative Committee Inquiry for ‘failing them’ in his administration of the camp. But key lobbyists, including Australian Zionist Federation President Jeremy Liebler, said Scott had lost credibility and moved on. ask for resignation. scott public I promised ($) to rectify the situation.

One of the ways to ‘fix’ the situation, it seems

Make the coordinator of Zionist grievances the leader in his own office.

Australian Academic Alliance Against Antisemitism (5A)

In announcing Abrahams-Sprod’s appointment to all university staff last week, Scott praised the “wealth of knowledge, experience and critical expertise” Abrahams-Sprod brings to the new role. He did not mention his activities as coordinator of the Australian Academic Alliance Against Antisemitism (5A).

5A is a network of academics working to combat antisemitism in universities and medical institutions, founded in November 2023. opening statement “They (Jews) are hated because of their nation-state, Israel,” he told the NSW Antisemitism Survey. “Anti-Zionism is the new antisemitism disguised as wine but is actually an old poison, re-bottled, labeled with new academic terminologies that misrepresent and deceive.”

5A’s association of Jewish identity with the state of Israel misrepresents anti-Zionism and the BDS movement as anti-Semitic strategies that the Israeli government has produced over the years to deflect and misinterpret the focus on Israel’s war crimes and crimes against humanity.

He argues that campuses became “epicentres of anti-Semitic activism” after October 7, 2023, and that this was rooted in “protests, college camps, and cancel culture.”

This puts it on a collision course with thousands of pro-Palestinian and human rights-oriented staff and students.

In her role as coordinator, Abrahams-Sprod at least 100 complaints towards the staff and students, many of whom he helped. This puts him at the center of the campaign to pressure Scott. According to 5A, the number of complaints from USyd far exceeded the very small number from the other four major universities in Sydney.

5A called the campus protests antisemitic because they ‘delegitimized the state of Israel’. Similarly, stating that Israel is an apartheid state or that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza is also considered anti-Semitic, despite these being widely accepted findings by the UN Investigations and international lawyers.

Antisemitism Act. Same shirt. Different stairs. Years of imprisonment.

Roth/Segal connection

Abrahams-Sprod is also affiliated with Jillian Segal through her own senior lecturer’s funding. Segal was married to real estate developer John Roth and was the sister-in-law of Stanley Roth, who died in January this year. For more than two decades, philanthropic foundations affiliated with the Roth family, along with several other philanthropists, have helped fund the discipline of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies.

In November 2024, the Roth family established the Roth Senior Lecturer in Jewish Civilization, Education and Israel Studies, to which Abrahams-Sprod was appointed. A university spokesman said funders played no role in his selection.

Additionally, the Roth family funded the Youth Mental Health at the University of Sydney’s Brain and Mind Centre.

After his death, Stanley Roth was celebrated as one of Australia’s strongest supporters and one of Israel’s most generous funders. The brothers were also widely known as directors of Henroth Investments, which donated $50,000 to the far-right group Advance Australia in 2023/4.

Given Abrahams-Sprod’s highly partisan role, her appointment will only fuel division rather than create a safe and civil environment on campus. Palestinian staff accused the University Administration of being “hijacked by Israeli supporters”. But VC Scott’s appointment did more than signal his capitulation to pro-Israel pressure and disdain for pro-Palestinian supporters.

As we will examine in part two, this also raises conflict of interest issues for the university.

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