Image at right: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition leader Peter Dutton. Dutton acceses University Chancellors and the Labor Government of being 'weak' in not clearing the campuses of anti-Semitic protesters.
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Background information
The material below has been taken from a Wikipedia entry titled '2024 pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses'. The full text can be accessed at
Pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses escalated in April 2024, spreading in the United States and other countries, as part of wider Israel-Hamas war protests.
The escalation began after mass arrests at the Columbia University campus occupation, in which protesters demanded the university's disinvest from Israel over its alleged genocide of Palestinians. Disinvestment from Israel means that the universities would withdraw funds they have invested in projects linked with Israel and invest them elsewhere. The term also refers to withdrawing investment from weapons manufacturers whose products are supplied to Israel.
In the United States, over 2,950 protesters have been arrested, including faculty members and professors, on over 60 campuses.
Protests in other countries
On May 7, protests spread across Europe with mass arrests in the Netherlands. By May 12, twenty encampments had been established in the United Kingdom, and across universities in Australia and Canada.
Police response
Police departments have employed a range of tactics, including dispersing crowds using horses and police in riot gear, deploying pepper balls, using tasers, mass arrests, tear gas, clearing unauthorised encampments, and beating both students and professors. A report by Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project found that police interventions at United States student protests linked to conflict issues increased fourfold in April. Police repression of protesters, particularly in America, has been characterized as unusually harsh.
Response to protests in Australia
The Group of Eight, (comprised of the universities of Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Monash, Queensland, New South Wales, Western Australia, and the Australian National University) has sought legal advice on using terms such as 'intifada' and 'from the river to the sea' and has said it would ban those phrases if given definitive legal advice that they are unlawful. It said such phrases are 'deeply offensive to many in the Jewish community'. It sent a letter to Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus asking for legal advice on whether these phrases violate Commonwealth law. Dreyfus wrote back that he does not give legal advice, noting the universities were taking external legal advice.
'Intifada' is an Arabic word literally meaning, as a noun, 'tremor', 'shivering', 'shuddering'. It is derived from an Arabic term 'nafada' meaning 'to shake', 'shake off', 'get rid of', as a dog might shrug off water. In English-language usage, the word primarily refers to Palestinian uprisings against Israeli occupation.
The phrase 'from the river to the sea' describes the area between Israel's eastern border, the River Jordan, and the Mediterranean Sea which borders the Gaza strip on Israel's west. It is variously interpreted, to mean liberation for Palestinians in the area or the total removal of the Israeli inhabitants. Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton has raised concerns that protests could become violent. He has said the police do not want the 'existing tension' and that universities must consider 'how much more risk they're accepting by allowing these encampments to continue'.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has taken a neutral stance on the protests, saying he is worried about social cohesion. Education Minister Jason Clare has expressed concern about students feeling unsafe. He has said that while there will always be protests in a democracy, there is no place for bigotry, including antisemitism and Islamophobia.
Liberal/National Coalition leader Peter Dutton has been sharply critical of the protests, calling universities that are allowing them to continue 'weak'. He has said Prime Minister Albanese 'needs to stand up and show some backbone here and call for an end to these nonsense protests'.