Queensland University of Technology under fire for anti-Israel speakers at anti-racism symposium
The Queensland University of Technology’s (QUT) National Symposium on Unifying Anti-Racist Research and Action is generating controversy due to the participation of speakers with a history of making inflammatory anti-Israel and antisemitic statements.

Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah Photo: X
Among the most scrutinized figures is Dr. Randa Abdel-Fattah, a sociology academic at Macquarie University, whose past remarks have sparked widespread condemnation. In December 2024, Abdel-Fattah publicly stated her desire for “the end of Israel” and referred to Zionism as a “death cult.”
Her social media activity has also drawn criticism, including a post in which she called Zionism a “Palestinian slaughterhouse” and described Israeli Zionists as “demons” who engage in murder, torture, and sexual violence with “zero restraint.” Following the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, Abdel-Fattah came under fire for changing her Facebook profile picture to an image of a parachutist in Palestinian flag colours, a symbol widely associated with the attacks.
In an interview with Sky News, she further exacerbated tensions by stating, “I don’t see them [Hamas] as a terrorist organization,” a comment that many perceived as a defence of Hamas’s actions. The backlash led Macquarie University to launch an internal investigation, acknowledging the distress caused within the Jewish community and beyond.
Another speaker at the symposium, Sara Saleh, a human rights lawyer and poet, has also faced scrutiny for her views on Israel. Saleh resigned from the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) after accusations that she had shared anti-Israel content on social media.
Critics claim that she openly advocated for the abolition of Israel and frequently shared inflammatory posts that questioned Israel’s right to exist. In her resignation letter, Saleh alleged that the AHRC’s leadership treated her Palestinian identity as a risk, and she accused the organization of leaking details of her departure to the media, which she said subjected her to public humiliation. Her supporters argue that she has been unfairly targeted for her pro-Palestinian advocacy, while critics maintain that her rhetoric crosses the line into antisemitism.
The symposium has also drawn attention for its inclusion of controversial independent Senator Lidia Thorpe, who has been a vocal critic of Israel, repeatedly accusing the nation of genocide and drawing parallels between Israel’s actions in Gaza and Australia’s colonial history. Thorpe has consistently taken a hardline stance against Israel in public statements and media appearances, framing the conflict as one of indigenous resistance against settler colonialism.
In response to the backlash, QUT Vice-Chancellor Margaret Sheil defended the symposium, emphasizing the importance of academic freedom and the university’s commitment to cultural diversity and anti-racism. Speaking to The Australian, she stated that the event is intended to address systemic racism, with a primary focus on Australia’s Indigenous communities.
Despite these assurances, critics, including Zionist Federation of Australia president Jeremy Leibler, have condemned the event, telling the Australian Newspaper it was a “spit in the eye” to the Jewish community. “If our universities think that this is the answer to antisemitism, then what questions are they asking?” he said.
“This just goes to show how dangerously out of touch our university sector is from the crisis of vilification that is facing Jews, and Jewish students and staff.”
Opposition education spokeswoman Sarah Henderson has also weighed in, telling The Australian that the symposium was a “thinly veiled attempt to drive hateful anti-Jewish and anti-Israel division” and urging Education Minister Jason Clare to take action to prevent it from proceeding.
The controversy surrounding the QUT symposium underscores the broader tensions in Australia regarding free speech, academic responsibility, and the limits of political discourse within public institutions. At a time when antisemitism in Australia has surged to levels not seen since World War II, it is both incongruous and deeply offensive for a university to host a symposium dominated by anti-Israel voices.
If this symposium is allowed to go ahead it will make a mockery of all the current discussion by politicians and police on antisemitic acts. For of and in itself it will do nothing but enhance and incite those very acts.
The Vice-Chancellor of QUT, Margaret Sheil (ex-University of Melbourne), graced our tv screens last year saying that from now on QUT would only employ with diversity as the criterion, not merit; merit would no longer be a criterion. The need for this, she said, could be seen, for example, in the science faculties where so many reserved personalities were evident. This is, of course, a different issue to ‘anti-racism’ which this symposium is supposed to address, but no less bizarre insofar as subject matter and people chosen to represent that is concerned.