Brisbane, Australia
CNN
–
Australian universities could lose funds if they are not determined to be sufficient to address anti-Semitic hate crimes, according to new measures proposed by the country’s first anti-Semitic envoy.
Gillian Segal was appointed to the role a year ago, in response to the surge in reports of attacks on Australian Jewish sites and property following Israel’s invasion of Gaza, and was tasked with fighting the country’s anti-Semitism.
Alongside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday, Segal released his nine-month report, proposing strong measures that include reviewing visa applicants for university funding threats and extremist views.
“This plan is not about special treatment of one community, it’s about restoring equal treatment,” Segal says. “It’s about ensuring that all of Australia can live, work, learn and thrive in this country, regardless of background or belief.”
Like the US, Australian campuses were once a hub for Palestinian protests led by students who pitched tents calling for action to stop Israeli attacks.
Campus protests have declined after restrictions were tightened and some protesters were threatened with expulsion. This is a move that activists have been accused of assaulting free speech.
Anti-Semitism is “infiltrated and normalized” in academia and university courses and on campus, and is subject to annual reports assessing its effectiveness in the fight against anti-Semitism.
University of Australia CEO Luke Sheehee said the organization is working “constructively” with envoys, and its members will “consider the recommendations.”
“Academic freedom and freedom of expression are central to the university’s mission, but they must be held accountable and never exercised as cover for hatred and harassment,” he said in a statement.
Anti-Semitist attacks in Australia surged 300% in the year after Israel’s invasion of Gaza in October 2023.
In the past week alone, the doors of the synagogue have been burning in Melbourne, and 20 residents have forced them to escape from the after exit as nearby protesters stormed an Israeli-owned restaurant using Israeli military initials.
A man is facing arson charges for a synagogue attack, and three people were charged on Tuesday with attacks, offray, rioting actions and detective victimization for restaurant attacks.
The Australian Jewish Executive Council, once led by Segal and affiliated with hundreds of Jewish community groups, said the release of the report “cannot be made more timely given the recent horrifying events in Melbourne.”
However, Australia’s Jewish Council, opposed to Israel’s war in Gaza, has expressed concern about Segal’s plan, saying it has overtones from President Donald Trump’s attempt to use the funds as a means of controlling the agency.
In a statement, the council criticized the plan’s “emphasis on oversight, censorship, and punitive control over cultural and educational funds,” adding that it was “a step straight from Trump’s authoritarian playbook.”
Max Kaiser, executive officer of the group, said: “All responses that treat anti-Semitism as exceptions while ignoring Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian racism, and other forms of hatred are destined to fail.”
Education, immigration, art
The envoy’s 20-page plan includes sweeping recommendations covering schools, immigration, the media, police and public awareness campaigns.
Segal hopes that the Holocaust and anti-Semitistic education will be burned into the national curriculum “as a major case study of where unidentified anti-Semitism can lead.”
Arts organizations can be subject to the same restrictions as universities and are threatened with withdrawing public funds if they are found to have engaged or promoted anti-Semitism.
“While freedom of expression, in particular artistic expression, is essential and should be protected for cultural richness, the funds provided by Australian taxpayers should not be used to promote division or spread false and distorted narratives,” the report states.
Under the recommendation, strict immigration screenings oust people with anti-Semitic views, and immigration law allows authorities to cancel visas for anti-Semitic conduct.
Media will be monitored to “encourage accurate, fair and responsible reporting” and to “avoid acceptance of false or distorted stories,” the report added.
At a press conference Thursday, Albanese pointed to an interview with protesters about the country’s national broadcaster, saying that the interviewees tried to justify the Melbourne restaurant attack.
“There’s absolutely no justification for that,” he said. “The idea that somehow the cause of justice for Palestinians is progressing through such actions is not only paranoid, but destructive, and is not in line with the way you raise your opinion in respectfulness to democracy,” he said.
Asked whether the country has become more tolerant of different views and perhaps lost its ability to debate, Albanese pointed to social media.
“I think it has an impact on social media. In social media, algorithms work to enhance people’s views,” he said. “They strengthen their opinions and push people to the extreme, whether on the extreme left or the extreme right. Australians want a country at the centre.”
His comments were called by X’s AI chatbot Grok to spread the anti-Semitism ratio that the company said was “working actively to get rid of.”
Regarding anti-Semitic views, Albanese said, “Social media has a social responsibility and needs to be held to explain.”
When asked whether anti-Israel protests promote anti-Semitic attacks, the prime minister said that people should be able to express their views without resorting to hatred.
“In Israel itself, as a democracy, we should be able to protest the actions of our government, and in democracy, we should be able to express your views on events overseas in Australia,” he said. “The places where the lines cross are crossed are criticised and identified as they happen to be Jews.”
