Campus antisemitism exposed, but community says response falls short

The Australian Human Rights Commission’s ‘Respect at Uni’ report, released this week, has exposed the deep and personal impact of antisemitism on Australian university campuses. Jewish students and staff describe experiences of harassment, exclusion and fear that grew sharply after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel and during the ongoing Middle East conflict.

The study draws on more than 76,000 survey responses from students and staff at 42 universities, along with focus groups and written submissions. It records high levels of racism across several groups. Overall, around 15 per cent of respondents reported experiencing direct interpersonal racism at university. Religious Jewish respondents reported experiences of racism at 93.8 per cent, while 81 per cent of secular Jewish respondents reported the same.

The Jewish testimonies stand out for their emotional weight and detail a campus environment where many feel forced to hide their identity to stay safe. Religious Jewish respondents in particular faced severe impacts, with many reporting direct racism, feelings of unsafety and lack of belonging.

One Jewish student explained the ongoing anxiety: “I have felt unsafe on campus, in my residence (on campus), in online [university]-related spaces … I feel scared that if my religion is exposed during class discussions, I will be treated unequally. This has impacted my university experience generally, my mental and social wellbeing.”

Another shared a specific incident: “[I] was harassed for being Jewish and wearing my kippah whilst walking to class through a pro-Palestine event.”

Some accounts were even more disturbing. One participant described hearing extreme threats: “This has included people screaming ‘send them to the camps’ at small groups of Jews or accusing us of being involved in foreign wars.”

Jewish respondents often said they changed their behaviour to avoid trouble. They avoided talking about their heritage, removed visible symbols or stayed away from certain events and spaces. The Commission connected much of this rise to campus protests, encampments and discussions about the Israel-Hamas war, where free speech and academic freedom sometimes conflicted with protection from discrimination.

One Jewish participant captured the widespread concern: “I am deeply concerned that I could be targeted as a Jew on campus.”

Staff members reported similar problems. Some mentioned colleagues or lecturers who downplayed historical events. One lecturer reportedly said, “The Holocaust shouldn’t be called a genocide because its victims were white.” Others saw hateful signs, including “F..k Israel,” in shared areas.

ECAJ Head of Legal Simone Abel said the final report had confirmed many of the community’s fears, particularly that antisemitism was being treated as part of a broad, generic racism framework rather than as a phenomenon requiring targeted responses.

“The report unfortunately validates the concerns we expressed before the survey was undertaken that it was falling into the error of treating different forms of racism as part of a generic problem, rather than recognising their particularities and the need for bespoke policies and programs to respond to each of them, especially antisemitism,” she said.

Abel also criticised what she described as the failure to recognise anti-Israeli racism as a distinct form of racial hostility.

“Another weakness is the report’s failure to recognise anti-Israeli racism as a distinctive phenomenon, related but not identical to antisemitism,” she said. “We have seen significant numbers of complaints from staff and students of Israeli background concerning conduct on campus which isolates, dehumanises and vilifies them because they are Israelis, irrespective of their political, religious or ideological beliefs.”

She noted that while the Commission acknowledged anti-Palestinian racism, it did not recognise anti-Israeli racism in the same way.

“The AHRC has thereby delegitimised Israelis by not recognising them as a national group, some of whom have been severely impacted by racism at universities,” Abel said. “In many, but not all instances, this racism may also be antisemitic. This delegitimisation, and the differential treatment of Israeli and Palestinian students, is itself a form of racism.”

Despite those criticisms, Abel said the data itself revealed a serious and systemic problem.

“On the other hand, the survey results do show a very serious and untreated systemic antisemitism problem at universities, with the data being broadly consistent across the country,” she said, adding that the findings were in line with surveys previously published by ECAJ, the Zionist Federation of Australia and the Australasian Union of Jewish Students.

Abel also questioned whether the Commission’s recommendations meaningfully addressed antisemitism in practice.

“It is not surprising that the AHRC report endorses the National Anti-Racism Framework published by the AHRC last November,” she said. “We would have hoped that the Framework, at least as it relates to universities, would have been informed by the published data rather than the other way around. Perhaps that is why the Report’s recommendations do not seem to meaningfully engage with the issue of university antisemitism or deliver appropriately targeted solutions.”

Liat Granot, Advocacy and Public Relations Manager for the Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS), said the final report confirmed long-standing fears.

“The Racism@Uni survey confirms a horrifying, but not inconceivable, truth. The vast majority, 94%, of Jewish respondents have reported experiencing some form of antisemitism. While deeply alarming, this fact is not new,” she said.

“Since October 7, 2023, Jewish students have faced a clear and sustained increase in antisemitism. For too long, our concerns have been ignored, minimised, or dismissed as ‘political’. This report confirms what Jewish students have been saying for years, antisemitism is real and it is growing.”

With more than 40 per cent of religious Jewish respondents reporting that they feel unsafe on campus, the Commission’s warning is stark: universities must move beyond statements of concern to enforceable, systemic change.

“We hope this is the moment where antisemitism is no longer minimised, but recognised and addressed through strong, effective policies. We stand with our Jewish students, now and always, and will continue to advocate for their safety and right to belong,” Granot said.

In his foreword, Race Discrimination Commissioner Giridharan Sivaraman highlighted universities’ profound duty of care and their colonial history of exclusion, a legacy that still shapes modern discrimination. The report, delivered shortly after the antisemitic terror attack at Bondi Beach in December 2025, includes 47 recommendations covering governance, curriculum, complaints processes and leadership.

The report calls for stronger accountability, independent complaints mechanisms, improved racial literacy and clearer guidance on balancing academic freedom with the right to safety and freedom from discrimination. It also urges full implementation of the National Anti-Racism Framework and consideration of a national Human Rights Act to ensure universities act compatibly with human rights.

Education Minister Jason Clare signalled that the federal government is preparing to respond. Speaking to reporters in Brisbane, he said, “We’ll comb through it and respond in due course.”

He pointed to proposals aimed at lifting regulatory standards. “One of [the recommendations] … is to raise that standard that universities need to comply with,” Clare said. “We’ve already said that we will do that, and that work’s underway.”

For the Jewish students and staff whose testimonies feature in the report, the urgency is clear. With more than 40 per cent of religious Jewish respondents reporting that they feel unsafe on campus, the challenge now shifts from documenting the problem to enforcing meaningful change.

Click here to read the full report