Adelaide University student paper: “Death to Israel”

Habibah Jaghoori, the editor of Adelaide’s student newspaper On Dit earlier this month penned an article titled “For Palestine, There is No Ceasefire”.

South Australia’s leading paper The Advertiser has reported that community leaders allege that “Jewish students studying at Adelaide University are being left increasingly scared on campus amid claims of rising anti-semitic behaviour.”

Jaghoori’s article finishes by stating:

“The solution to achieving peace and bringing forth justice for Palestine is to demand the abolition of Israel.

Free Palestine and Death to Israel.”

The Advertiser reports that Alissa Foster, the vice president of the Jewish Students Union, had “called on university management and the student union to condemn ‘this hateful language and hold those who perpetuate it to account’ and that therhetoric ‘openly incites hate against Jewish and Israeli students’.”

The paper wrote that an Adelaide University spokeswoman said it “deplores religious and racial discrimination including anti-semitism” and it distanced itself from On Dit’s editorial decisions.

President of the Jewish Community Council of South Australia, Annetay Henderson-Sapir, said: “Calling for ‘Death to Israel’ goes well beyond ordinary political discourse, as would a call for the ‘death’ of any country.  This statement unfairly singles out Jewish students. There is no place for hatred in modern Australian society.  All students deserve to feel safe and respected at university, regardless of their religion, country of origin, culture or ethic connections.’

She added that The Jewish Community Council of South Australia would be pleased to work with the University of Adelaide and the editors of On Dit to make the university a more inclusive place for all students.

The Australasian Union of Jewish Students told J-Wire: “The Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS) is appalled that On Dit is allowed to publish an article filled with hatred and incitement. The suggestion by the author that “the solution to achieving peace and bringing forth justice for Palestine is to demand the abolition of Israel” is a dangerous message for Jewish students on campus, which should ring alarm bells for the University.

The article actively calls for and encourages the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state. The explicit call for ‘Death to Israel’ does nothing to achieve the goal of two States for two peoples which is indispensable for a just and lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. It also vilifies Jewish students and faculty who have family, cultural, religious and historical ties to Israel which are an essential expression of their identity. Rather than seeking to understand the connections Jewish students have to Israel and encouraging productive conversations, the On Dit article simply incites hatred.

The article is not a one off incident at the University of Adelaide. The On Dit facebook page shared the article with the words “Glory to the Intifada”, literally glorifying the sickening violence and unrestrained terrorism of the First and Second intifadas.

J-Wire has called for a comment from editor Habibah Jaghoori.