Anti-Semitism plan takes aim at schools, universities
Australia’s universities, schools and other publicly funded institutions have been urged to join a sweeping effort to combat anti-Semitism across the nation.
Australia has been urged to clamp down on anti-Semitism in classrooms, universities and other spaces after the federal government received a plan to support the Jewish community.
The recommendations were published on Thursday in a report by the government’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal, after a 300 per cent rise in threats, vandalism and physical violence against Jewish Australians.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said there was “no place in Australia for anti-Semitism”.
“Anti-semitism has risen to deeply troubling levels in Australia in the wake of the conflict in the Middle East,” he told reporters in Sydney.
“The kind of hatred and violence that we’ve seen on our streets recently is despicable, and it won’t be tolerated.
“This is something that government needs to work with civil society on at all levels, each and every day and every week and every month and every year.”
Education was central to her report’s recommendations, Segal said, as she called for a nationally consistent plan to teach students about history and modern forms of anti-Semitism.
Australia has also been urged to promote cultural understanding and encourage responsible media reporting.
“This plan is a whole-of-society plan,” she said.
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Segal’s report has been in the works since her July 2024 appointment, which itself was a response to a rise in anti-Semitism following Hamas’s October 7 attacks and Israel’s subsequent violence against Palestinians in Gaza.
An East Melbourne synagogue was set alight on Friday night, seven months after a firebombing at the Adass Israel Synagogue of Melbourne some 20 minutes away.
There have been multiple incidents of vandalism at Jewish schools and synagogues, as well as a firebombing at the former home of a prominent community leader in Sydney in late 2024.
