Anti-Semitism is rearing its head in schools and universities across Australia, with one Jewish leader taking the issue up with a deputy vice-chancellor of a major university and another calling for the swastika to be banned.
Children in primary school are among those who have recently been targeted, and an outbreak of anti-Semitic graffiti has led the chair of the Melbourne-based Anti-Defamation Commission, Dvir Abramovich, to call for the current “swastika epidemic” to be tackled by law.
In Sydney, NSW Jewish Board of Deputies chief executive Vic Alhadeff said legislative action was “vital”.
“The alarming spike in anti-Semitic incidents is evident across the board, from the tertiary sector and schoolyard to the workplace and online space,” he said. “Just this week we received a call from a student looking to switch universities because she has copped relentless anti-Semitic abuse. Two weeks ago, I met with the pro vice-chancellor of one of our major universities to discuss the rise in incidents on that campus.”
That meeting was in relation to incidents at the University of Sydney, he said.
He said TAFE NSW recently introduced protocols for staff and students in regard to racism, anti-Semitism and intimidation “and we’ve seen a rash of Nazi swastikas on Bondi beachfront — the symbol of the ultimate in race hatred”.
Read the article by Mark Schliebs in The Australian.
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