Leftist groups on campuses across the country have been “ostracising” and harassing Jewish students, with a national survey revealing two thirds of Jews have faced anti-Semitism from their university peers – and staff.
Jewish university students are hiding their faith and not turning up to class to avoid being targeted and harassed, as controversy over the actions of the Israeli government erupts into anti-Semitism on campuses across the country.
A national survey has revealed nearly two thirds of Jewish students say they’ve experienced some form of anti-Semitism at uni, and one in five have avoided campus because of it.
A quarter of the 560 students surveyed by the Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS) specifically said they’d been singled out or excluded over Israel, and 37 per cent said they’d seen Israel compared to Nazi Germany.
In their anonymous responses, students reported being excluded from or even abused by left-leaning clubs, and had even been targeted by university staff.
“The socialist movement has said things to me, including calling me a “dirty Zionist Jew” as someone who is clearly a religious student with kippah, tzitzit and a beard,” one wrote.
Alissa Foster, AUJS president, said anti-Israel sentiment on university campuses has spiralled into harassment of Jewish social clubs by pro-Palestinian activists and their allies.
Read the article by Eilidh Sproul-Mellis in The Daily Telegraph.