Universities in anti-Semitism spotlight after recent attacks on Ripponlea, Woollahra Jewish communities

Australia’s response to an emerging anti-Semitism crisis will continue with hearings into how it is being tackled on university campuses.

A federal parliamentary inquiry into the topic will resume on Thursday with representatives from a number of major tertiary institutions and departmental officials giving evidence.

Anti-Semitism has reared its ugly head in recent days in a spate of attacks against Jewish communities, most notably the firebombing of a synagogue in Melbourne’s east on Friday, which was carried out while people were inside.

Woollahra, a Sydney suburb known to be populated with Jewish people, was also targeted for the second time in a matter of weeks on Wednesday, with anti-Israel graffiti sprayed on a building before a car was set on fire.

Weeks earlier, a ute was set on fire, and multiple cars, a restaurant and other buildings were graffitied with anti-Israel messages in the same neighbourhood.

At the Sydney Jewish Museum on Wednesday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said a society-wide approach was needed to stamp it out.

“We’re one in which our whole Australian society is enriched by people living side by side, of different faiths, different ethnicities, different backgrounds, and we need a whole of government, a whole of society (effort) to make sure this is stamped out,” he said.

The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights inquiry considering the prevalence, nature and experiences of anti-Semitism at universities - including frameworks and policies to prevent and respond to it and support for students and staff - will sit on Thursday.

A Senate committee recommended the inquiry after receiving hundreds of submissions from Jewish students and staff outlining increased anti-Semitism at universities following the Hamas terror attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

When it last sat in November, Special Envoy to Combat Anti-Semitism Jillian Segal said universities were a “cauldron of anti-Semitism”.

“The fact that universities generally had not adopted a definition of anti-Semitism I think was stark evidence of the fact that they didn’t have effective complaint schemes,” she said.

Ms Segal had previously argued anti-Semitism at universities should be tackled with an inquiry with power identical to that of a royal commission.

The Australian Human Rights Commission is already studying the impact of racism at universities, with a number of institutions suggesting it was a more appropriate avenue for action given a probe should include all forms of religious intolerance.