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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-09-08 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

Antisemitism

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:03): A few moments ago this house had a question from the Leader of the Opposition, answered by the Premier, and it was a credit to them both the way in which it was asked and answered. I think that they expressed sentiments felt by everybody in this house—and indeed, sir, I should also note comments by you as the Chair—in relation to the very challenging situation that a number of students have found themselves in at Adelaide University in the last couple of weeks. It goes to a broader issue in relation to what I consider to be a very concerning normalisation of antisemitic language that has found its way into far too many publications around the world.

There were examples in recent weeks of the defacement of the Adelaide Holocaust Museum, a museum that has been brought into existence so that the stories of South Australian Holocaust survivors can continue to be told even though those survivors themselves are getting older and in the years ahead will be less able to tell those stories.

The importance of that museum could not be stated any more than by the importance of ensuring that all Australians, South Australians and South Australian children and young people grow up with an understanding of the Holocaust and what that Holocaust has meant for the world over the last 75 years. The industrialisation of brutality, the mechanisation of evil and everything that Holocaust represented culminated in the murder of six million people.

At one end of the spectrum is the defacement of the Holocaust Museum, which of course everyone would rightly express that they are absolutely appalled by, but then there is the publication in student newspapers of statements such as 'death to Israel'. I have observed the footage of the SRC meeting where the SRC refused to request that On Dit take that article down. People justified it on the basis that they did not think the words 'death to Israel' were antisemitic. They said that they were anti-Zionist and made these superficial speculations of the difference between those words.

The content of that meeting was appalling. The undermining of those Jewish students who attended that meeting by those present in positions of power was very disappointing. The front page of The Australian Jewish News today bears some words that I think all members of the house would be very disappointed to hear said in one of Australia's major publications. The article begins:

Jewish students at the University of Adelaide are scared to go on campus in the wake of an article in student magazine On Dit that called for 'Death to Israel' and a student representative council (SRC) meeting at which they were taunted, laughed at and their concerns ignored.

Online publisher Medium removed the article 'For Palestine, there is no ceasefire' last week after being contacted by the Online Hate Prevention Institute, but On Dit reposted the article on its Facebook page.

This is a troubling state of affairs, a deeply disappointing state of affairs. One of my constituents was one of the students who approached the opposition in recent days to talk about their concerns. They identified to me threats of violence they have received. They and their colleagues reported the way in which, even when engaging on social media or in community discussions—it has been student elections at Adelaide University in the last week and a half or so, and there have been many discussions where this has been taking place—they were asked to justify, as a Jewish-identifying student on campus, why Israeli foreign policy is whatever it is.

It is not a reasonable thing to ask of a student, to ask them to define themselves in the context of their race or religion. It is not something that is routinely asked of students who bear a cultural identity in connection with governments of other countries around the world where their foreign policy becomes a matter of question. I think it speaks not just to the overt antisemitism that is identifiable and recognised broadly when we have the defacing of the Holocaust Museum but to a more covert and just as problematic antisemitism that is apparent in far too many places of public discourse in the world.

It is not to say that we disagree with free speech but, as the Premier said in response to the Leader of the Opposition's excellent question, it is entirely the duty of us as parliamentarians to call out hateful language and to call out racism when we see it. When that racism is covert and seeks to normalise antisemitism, especially in the shadow of the Holocaust, we all have a duty to call it out. I thank members on both sides of this house for standing with the Leader of the Opposition and the Premier in doing so on behalf of these students today.

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