The Australia Palestine Advocacy Network (APAN) unequivocally condemns the adoption by Universities Australia and its 39 universities of a new definition of antisemitism that dangerously conflates criticism of Israel with discrimination against Jewish people.
This move manipulates genuine concern about antisemitism to silence political dissent, shield Israel from accountability and shut down Palestinians and their allies.
Instead of protecting Jewish students, staff and community members from discrimination, universities are criminalising discussions about Israel’s apartheid, settler-colonialism and genocide in Palestine.
This misguided institutional overreach is a direct consequence of settler-colonialism, political pressure from those who support Israel and its genocide, and a recent Senate inquiry, which have worked together to seek to impose ideological conformity on universities and suppress criticism of Israel.
The result is an outright assault on academic freedom, open inquiry, and the truth. It is an attack on Palestinians and everyone who supports them.
Universities must be bastions of critical inquiry and freedom of expression, not platforms for political censorship.
It is entirely legitimate to question and critique Zionism and the nation-state of Israel, whose very foundation rests on the dispossession and oppression of Palestinians. Suppressing this truth serves only to entrench injustice.
By equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism, this policy falsely binds Jewish identity to Zionism – an assumption rejected by a growing number of Jewish people themselves, who oppose Israel’s genocide, illegal occupation and system of apartheid.
We demand that all universities reject this dangerous definition of antisemitism, and immediately affirm and act in line with their commitment to academic freedom, rigorous critical inquiry, human rights and the fight against all forms of racism – including anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia.
Comments attributed to APAN President Nasser Mashni:
“By adopting this definition of antisemitism, Australian universities have sacrificed their integrity, turning institutions of higher learning into obedient tools for political censorship and the shielding of genocide and apartheid.
“This is not about fighting hate – it’s about silencing dissent, erasing Palestinian voices, and defending Israel’s atrocities from accountability.
“This a shameful and cowardly capitulation to the Israel lobby, and an attempt to turn our universities into echo chambers of oppression.
“The right to challenge Israel’s brutal occupation and settler-colonialism is not just a political stance – it’s a moral imperative, and no definition of antisemitism should ever be weaponised to shut this down.
“What we are witnessing is a dangerous and authoritarian crackdown on freedom of expression and solidarity with Palestine in all aspects of life in this country – McCarthyism is reborn, where dissent is no longer tolerated, and critical thought is branded as ‘hate.’
“This is the continued erosion of our fundamental right to speak truth to power and challenge injustice.”
