Sydney University accused of antisemitism

It happened on the same week that lawyers representing a group of Jewish students and staff lodged complaints with the Australian Human Rights Commission against two USYD lecturers and the university itself, alleging discrimination under Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act.

The complaints against Dr Nick Riemer and Professor John Keane have been lodged by law firm Levitt Robinson, who announced a planned class action against the university in June this year.

Linguistics academic Riemer posted on social media on October 8, “No progressive should feel the need to publicly condemn any choices by the Palestinian resistance. Doing so just adds to the perception that their cause is unjust.”

Riemer also posted in support of a “global intifada” in November 2023 and in October 2023 shared a tweet stating “The Saturday Paper is owned by Zionists”, a reference to Jewish publisher Morry Schwartz.

Keane, a politics professor, posted an image of Hamas flags on October 8, 2023.

Levitt Robinson managing partner Stewart Levitt told The AJN the conflation of the terms “Zionist” and “Jew” “infects every aspect of the campaign against Israel”.

“What we’re doing here is calling out the sham of people who are trying to hide behind a pseudo-political position in vilifying Jews,” he said.

He added that since Riemer and Keane were “acting within the purview of their employment … [it] makes the University of Sydney vicariously liable for their actions”.

USYD vice-chancellor Mark Scott has repeatedly come under fire over the last 13 months for his perceived failure to tackle antisemitism on his campus.

“[They] were matters known to the university, known to the vice-chancellor, and [the] subject of repeated complaint, but no action was taken,” Levitt said.

The team involved in the Levitt Robinson action includes barrister Adam Butt, who successfully led an antisemitic bullying case against Brighton Secondary College on behalf of a group of Jewish students, and Ron Merkel, a former federal court judge.

An attempt must be made to conciliate complaints through the AHRC before actions can be launched in the federal court.

“The University of Sydney has acknowledged service of the complaint, and the Human Rights Commission accepted the complaint and they’ve also indicated that they are going to deal with it expeditiously,” Levitt said.

A USYD spokesperson told The AJN, “We are aware of the complaints and will review and respond as appropriate.

“Our senate and chancellor David Thodey are committed to working with our vice-chancellor, Professor Mark Scott, to ensure our university is free from any form of discrimination.

“We’ve been very clear that we condemn all forms of racism, including antisemitism.”

Riemer told The Australian the complaint was intended to “intimidate” him and “discredit opposition to genocide”. Keane told the masthead “the plaintiffs have no case”.

Meanwhile, former USYD employee Dr Andy Smidt told The AJN on Tuesday she had reported the posters of terrorists found at the USYD campus to the NSW Counter-Terrorism Hotline.

They included members of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Examples are Marwan Barghouti, who killed five Israelis in terror attacks during the Second Intifada, and Zakaria Zubeidi, the former Jenin chief of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades who claimed responsibility for a 2002 terror attack that killed six people and 2004 bombing that killed one and injured more than 30.

An image of slain senior Hamas operative Mohamed Deif was accompanied by the text, “Our covenant is eternal revenge that will never fade … Put the sword in front of the sword, we are the men of Mohammed Deif.”

Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-CEO Peter Wertheim said campus protest organisers’ “feigned concern for human rights has now been shown to be a sham”.

“Idolising murderers, rapists and baby killers has absolutely nothing to do with human rights,” he said.

Smidt said the posters were “an indication of the extent to which extremist ideology is prevalent on campus”.

A USYD spokesperson said when the university became aware of the collection of posters “we assessed it and removed it”.

“The University will also consider whether any further action is warranted.

“Our security, grounds and campus assist teams continually monitor for any inappropriate graffiti, chalking or posters as part of their regular duties.”

Smidt has also called for USYD to more effectively monitor internal social network posts on the Microsoft Viva Engage platform, after a commenter accused Israel of massacring its own citizens on October 7.

While the university removed the offensive content after the fact, Smidt said employers have a responsibility to create a safe work environment.

“That means safe from psychosocial hazard … they need to be monitoring all the posts that are put up there to ensure that they are not likely to intimidate or cause harm to other staff members,” she said.

She has added the incident to a Safe Work complaint she initially lodged in September.

Smidt also provided testimony to Butt for the planned class action, but is not herself a complainant.