Yesterday I gave evidence before the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion about what I have seen through my work with StandWithUs Australia.
I spoke about the incidents that Jewish students are experiencing on campus, the challenges they face navigating complaints processes, and the responsiveness and actions of universities when those complaints are made.
I also spoke about students being confronted in ordinary university spaces and treated as though they were somehow personally responsible for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. None of it was easy to talk about, but what stayed with me most from the day was listening to the evidence of others.
I heard brave, thoughtful and incredibly eloquent Jewish students and academics describe what has happened to them on Australian campuses. A student spoke about hiding her Jewish identity. Another described being called a baby killer.
A Jewish academic gave evidence about Nazi salutes being directed at him. These were not people trying to perform or make a political point. They were simply explaining, in very personal terms, what their university experience has become.
Their evidence was measured, honest and difficult to hear. Against that background, I found the evidence of Students for Palestine co-convenor Yasmine Johnson absurd and deeply disturbing.
At times it felt less like evidence and more like a prepared, self-righteous lecture, complete with the language and framing we have heard repeatedly over the past few years. There seemed to be an answer for everything, provided it could be viewed through the lens of colonisation, oppression and resistance.
We heard resistance to colonisation discussed as something that has historically involved both mass non-violence and violent resistance. Israel was described as a racist project and, when it came to the murder of Israeli civilians on October 7, there was no simple, clear and unequivocal condemnation.
What struck me was the certainty with which it was all delivered, as though everyone else simply needed to be educated into seeing the world through the same ideological lens.
Yet beneath the language and theory sat a very basic question: is the deliberate murder of civilians wrong? It should not be difficult to answer, but somehow it becomes complicated when the victims are Israeli or Jewish.
The contrast with the evidence we had heard earlier could not have been clearer. Jewish students had spoken about fear, exclusion and the impact of chants such as “globalise the intifada”.
Yet their understanding of the language directed at them was again effectively dismissed as a misunderstanding of slogans supposedly rooted in liberation or resistance.
I have never understood why, when it comes to Jews, lived experience suddenly seems to count for less. We rightly tell Australians to listen to minorities when they explain what they experience. We listen to women, Indigenous Australians, Muslim Australians and the LGBTQ+ community.
Yet when Jews explain that certain language frightens us, that we know our history and can see what is happening around us, our experience is challenged, qualified or explained away.
We are told what the words really mean and accused of weaponising antisemitism or trying to shut down criticism of Israel. This is not about hurt feelings or an inability to hear political views with which we disagree.
It is about students constantly considering whether to wear something Jewish, speak in class, identify themselves as Jewish or make a complaint that might expose them to further hostility. That is not normal university life, and it should not be accepted as such.
For the Jewish community, none of the ideology expressed yesterday was new. We have been told for years not to take the slogans literally, not to overreact and not to worry about the glorification of “resistance”. Yesterday, Australians had the opportunity to hear some of that thinking explained in its own words.
At some point, Australia has to stop pretending it cannot see the connection. You cannot lecture Australians about racism and social justice while making excuses for violence against Jews and Israelis.
You cannot demand that every other minority be listened to and then dismiss Jewish students when they explain the intimidation they experience. Nor can you allow “Zionist” to become an accusation and act surprised when Jewish students begin hiding who they are.
I left the Royal Commission incredibly proud of the Jewish students and academics who gave evidence. They were brave, eloquent and honest about what they had experienced.
Then, almost as if to prove their point, Australians were given a glimpse of the ideology they have been confronting. The useful idiots would be proud, but the rest of Australia should be deeply disturbed.