Topics: Young man targeted by pro-Palestine activists at Monash University, University encampments, commentator Sami Hamdi, failure of the Prime Minister and education minister to act on antisemitism.
Chris Kenny: I had a bit more to say at the top of the program about the pro-Palestinian pro-Hamas anti-Israeli protests at universities around this country. I showed you this clip. I want to show you again, have a look at this. This is an Israeli protester being intimidated by pro-Palestinian protesters at Melbourne’s Monash University:
(Excerpt)
Protester: …and that’s what we are doing right now. This man needs to leave immediately… Every time you dare to show your face, you Israeli-loving-genocide supporters, we will be here. We will not leave.
Chris Kenny: A brave person there enduring the oral assault with security presumably there, just to make sure it didn’t become physical. Let’s go to Shadow Education Minister Sarah Henderson joining us live from Victoria. Good to speak to you, Sarah. You saw that vision. You’re very disturbed by it. Share those concerns with us
Sarah Henderson: Chris, Good afternoon. Yes, I posted it on my social media last night saying this was really disturbing. I am pleased to say, though, I spoke with the Vice Chancellor of Monash this morning, Sharon Pickering. Very thankfully, the university is taking this incident very seriously. So, police were called in and they broke up that group. And there’s no doubt this young Jewish student was being vilified, harassed, intimidated. There was even you might have noticed, Chris, a speaker was held up to his ear. Now, he did have earplugs in, but that’s verging on assault. So, I am very pleased to hear and have been advised by the Vice Chancellor that the police are investigating and that also students are under investigation for misconduct. So, in relation to this incident, the university has acted very quickly.
Chris Kenny: Now the other protests are going on around the country. Sydney has been the leading university and I showed at the top of the program, as well, how UK commentator Sami Hamdi gave a pep talk to the students at Sydney yesterday. Here’s a flashback to October last year and what he said in the immediate aftermath to the October the 7th atrocities:
(Excerpt)
Sami Hamdi: Celebrate the victory. Allah has shown the world that no normalisation can erase the Palestinian cause when everybody thought it was finished, it’s roaring. How many of you feel it in your hearts when you got the news that it happened? How many of you felt the euphoria? Allahu Akbar. How many of you felt it?
Chris Kenny: Now, of course we support free speech, but this sort of hate preaching at Sydney universities, at Australian universities, especially when so many reasonable people have been stormed off university campuses. I just think we’re getting no leadership from the university authorities.
Senator Henderson: Well, Chris it’s very important to reiterate that hate speech is not free speech. And when speech crosses the line and becomes intimidatory or threatening or harassing, and of course, there are very strong guidelines by universities and policies which ban that sort of behaviour, then you’re right. We are seeing a shocking failure of leadership by this government and by some university vice chancellors. I have to say things are particularly grim at the University of Sydney. They actually have the ability to ban people from their campus, Chris. People come onto this campus by way of a licence. It’s part of the university’s guidelines and policies. And yet this university has not banned the likes of this joker, along with others like Randa Abdel-Fattah, who came onto the campus, of course, and was encouraging children to chant `Intifada’. So, as I say, a shocking lack of courage, a shocking lack of leadership when it comes to standing up to antisemitism. But it starts at the top. The Prime minister and the weak and pathetic education minister, Jason Clare, must stand up to antisemitism. It’s no good just saying we won’t tolerate it. We need to see action. And as you know, Chris I’ve been absolutely agitating, as, of course, has Peter Dutton and everyone on the Coalition side against this shocking spate of antisemitism across our country. It’s so bad on university campuses. I’m really pleased to see that some universities are stepping up, and I do have a bit of breaking news for you, Chris, Monash University has just advised me, actually, that they are taking action against social media signs that say `Zionists are not welcome at Monash University’. So, the university is aware of this social media, you know, slogans. They’ve sought advice on the content and the wording and their best judgement is that the statement likely constitutes harassment and or vilification. So, they are seeking to remove that sort of those sort of slogans as well.
Chris Kenny: That is a good move, the way that Zionism is being demonised. When Israel was established by what, a Zionist United Nations General Assembly back in the 1940s, is extraordinary. Senator Sarah Henderson joining us there.