‘You are a child killer’: Inside the Jewish university experience

Incidents at Sydney’s two most prestigious universities have left Jewish students fearing for their safety on campus, calling into question the effectiveness of the Albanese government’s taskforce to stamp out the abuse of the community and the actions taken by tertiary institutions.

In October last year, sacked University of Sydney academic Rose Nakad was captured on video yelling “you are a disgusting baby killer”, “a Zionist is the lowest form of humanity” and “you are child killers … you are disgusting, low life. Go f— yourself, you disgusting Zionist” at a group of people.

As she yells, one member of the group protests that they are simply “being Jewish on campus”. The start of the interaction is not captured in the video.

Nakad appeared in Newtown Local Court last month on criminal charges of stalking/intimidation and offensive behaviour over the incident. She will contest the charges in a two–day hearing in November.

Days before Nakad’s court appearance, a group of Jewish students were menaced by a 37-year-old man at the University of NSW’s Roundhouse bar as they attended a trivia night.

“You kill children … Don’t kill children,” the man told the students as they played pool at the event, organised by the Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS).

NSW Police said the man, who was not a staff member or student at UNSW, was moved on and issued with an infringement notice. He was not charged with a crime but has been permanently banned from the UNSW campus.

Australasian Union of Jewish Students advocacy and public relations manager Liat Granot told The Sun-Herald that the most disturbing aspect of the incident was students’ response.

“They were all kind of numb to it. Jewish uni students have become numb to a lot of these issues. I’m 22 years old and I’ve been spat at and called every sort of derogatory name under the sun,” said the recent Australian National University graduate.

“Universities aren’t mechanised to respond quickly to change, particularly to hatred or something like antisemitism that manifests quite differently from other forms of racism because it’s viewed as punching up [rather than] the usual punching down.”

Both the University of Sydney and UNSW say they are working hard at addressing antisemitism on campus.

“We’ve heard deeply distressing accounts from Jewish students, our own and across the country, and we take their concerns seriously and stand firmly against antisemitism,” said University of Sydney deputy vice chancellor Joanne Wright.

“Since protest activity began over two years ago, we’ve worked hard to keep our campuses safe. While we didn’t get everything right, we’ve introduced meaningful reforms and an independent review of our policies, and we know more needs to be done.”

A UNSW spokesman said: “UNSW’s highest priority is working every day to provide a safe campus for students and staff. The incident at the Roundhouse involved a member of the public engaging in antisemitic behaviour towards students.”

UNSW has also updated its anti-racism policy to include anti-religious vilification, increased the number of campus security guards, expanded counselling services, intelligence gathering ahead of events and “engaging in a series of sector-wide antisemitism forums”, the university said in a submission to a 2024 Senate inquiry.

Granot said that these provisions failed to make Jewish students safe.

“We’ve seen since October 7, we’ve seen Jews transfer to completely online uni models and we’ve seen Jews engage in a broader retreat from campus life,” she said.

It is almost two years since a much-publicised pro-Palestine encampment that demanded the University of Sydney cut ties with its Israeli counterparts and arms manufacturers was erected in front of the campus’s quadrangle, a presence Jewish student groups said made them feel unsafe on campus.

University leaders were told of the groups’ concerns three days into the encampment. However, it remained on campus for eight weeks.

In September 2024, vice chancellor Mark Scott apologised in a parliamentary inquiry to Jewish students for the “searing” antisemitism they had experienced.

The Executive Council of Australian Jewry’s Simone Abel said universities must “rise above their processes and actually operationalise their policies”.

Abel claimed that while antisemitism had increased across society since October 7, it was “definitely worse in many respects in the university sector” because antisemitic dialogue was protected.

“My concern is that this will ultimately lead to violence,” she said.

Antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal has proposed a report card system that will grade tertiary institutions on their policies, complaints process and “whether the campus/online environment is conducive to Jewish students and staff participating actively and equally in university life”.

Universities’ funding should be tied to compliance, Segal has said, suggesting that public grants should not be given to institutions, researchers or centres that engage in antisemitism.

Following the attack at a Bondi Hanukkah festival in which 15 people were killed, the Albanese government announced a 12-month Antisemitism Education Taskforce as well as a royal commission on antisemitism.

A “significant number” of the 3500 submissions to the royal commission so far are about education, according to an update from commissioner Virginia Bell on Thursday.

However, none of the recommendations published in her interim report pertained to universities.

“My hopes for the royal commission are that we will see practical recommendations that can be easily implemented,” Abel said.

“I have failed them and the university has failed them.”

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said he was horrified by reports of “evil” across campuses.

“Every student should have the basic right to feel safe at university. Anything short of that is not on,” he said.

As of July 1, the university regulator will be able to place conditions on institutions that fail to adequately tackle antisemitism and racism, he said.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.