Tensions Stir in Pro-Palestine Encampment Protests in Australia

Members of the Australian Palestinian community and Australian Israeli members engage in dialogue at the Palestinian Protest Campsite at University of Sydney in Sydney, Australia, on May 3, 2024. (Photo by Ayush Kumar / AFP) (Photo by AYUSH KUMAR/AFP via Getty Images)

Tensions are flaring around pro-Palestinian encampments at universities across Australia amid the Israel-Hamas war.

Monash University Staff for Palestine, on behalf of 350 academics, have signed a letter demanding political leaders and the media cease their “rhetorical attacks” on student encampments.

However, Shadow Education Minister Sarah Henderson has called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to shut down the camps “fuelling antisemitic hate.”

Meanwhile, the Australian National University (ANU) Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Grady Venville has warned students the encampment is “dividing” the community and causing them harm.

In a sign of the tensions associated with these camps, glass bottle fights have allegedly broken out at the University of Melbourne’s pro-Palestine encampment.

Footage shared on social media by University of Melbourne for Palestine shows shouting, bottles being thrown, clouds of smoke, and a fire extinguisher.

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“Our camp is under attack. People with glass bottles, bats and fire extinguishers have attempted to breach the camp boundaries. we’re calling on the community to come with numbers to defend the camp and stay the night. We have tents available,” the group posted.

Inspired by a movement in the United States, students across Australia are continuing to camp in solidarity with Gaza despite concerns for the safety of Jewish students.

The protests at Universities continue amid the Israel-Hamas war in the Middle East. Hamas launched an attack on Israel on Oct. 7 killing 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages. Since then, more than 34,000 people have died in Gaza.

Encampment ‘Dividing’ the Community: ANU Warns

ANU’s Professor Venville wrote to students warning that their behaviour potentially breached the student code of conduct. 

The letter, dated May 10 and seen by The Epoch Times, warned students to reflect on their behaviour and called for respectful protest without causing harm to other members of the community and to the campus.

“The university strongly supports academic freedom and freedom of speech on campus including the right to protest. With these rights come responsibilities,” the letter to students involved in the encampment states.

“I am informally letting you know that I have received multiple reports and complaints that the encampment in which you are participating and your behaviours are potentially in breach of the student code of conduct. The encampment is dividing our community and causing members of our community harm.”

In the letter, Ms. Venville expresses that the university is willing reach out to encampment representatives to discuss how students can “continue to protest in more respectful ways.”

“I strongly encourage you to participate in these discussions. ANU is an inclusive, open and respectful community.  These are the core values that we uphold as members our community. The price of belonging to our community is adherence to them,” Ms. Venville wrote.

Monash Staff For Palestine Defend Camps

Meanwhile, Monash Staff for Palestine have drafted a letter signed by 350 academics saying they are “proud” of the students who have established “peaceful encampments” across Australia.

“They join the inspiring legacy of students in the frontlines against repressive and discriminatory forces, such as the Soweto Uprising in apartheid South Africa, the protests against segregation and the Vietnam War in 1960s United States, the 1965 Freedom Ride and ongoing First Nations and Indigenous struggles in Australia, and the contemporaneous Black Lives Matter movement,” the letter states.

The group reject the politicians and the media describing the protests as antisemitic, instead calling them “peaceful and urgent.”

The letter claims the camps are open spaces of learning, solidarity, and support for everyone, even stating some organisers and activists are Jewish themselves and “not a threat.”

The group demands that political leaders and the media cease “rhetorical attacks on, and vilification of the student encampments.”

Signatories of the letter are demanding that vice chancellors and management at Australian universities meet with student protestors to meet their “reasonable” political demands.

The letter expresses concern about institutions of learning being complicit in “war crimes and brutal violence upon the Palestinian people.”

“It is only through listening to, and working with, students at the encampments that we can end both divisiveness on campus and injustice elsewhere,” the letter states.

Shut Down Anti-Semitism: Shadow Education Minister

However, Shadow Education Minister Sarah Henderson called on the government to shut down anti-Semitism at university campuses.

“If Prime Minister Albanese is serious about stopping antisemitism across the nation, the government must shut down antisemitism at university campuses including the encampments which are fuelling antisemitic hate and incitement,” Ms. Henderson said on May 13.

Ms. Henderson recently revealed the Coalition will seek a Senate inquiry into anti-Semitism on university campuses in Parliament this week.

“The hate and incitement has become intolerable,” she wrote on X.

The Senator said everyone on university campuses deserves to be safe, including Jewish students, staff, and visitors.

“Failure to enforce university guidelines not only creates an unsafe environment for learning but fuels hate speech, and potential violence,” Ms. Henderson said.

“Allowing the establishment of encampments opens the floodgates to round-the-clock occupation by extremist protestors, including those who have no connection with a university.”

Australia Backs Push to Grant Palestine Full Membership of United Nations

Meanwhile, Australia backed a U.N. resolution that pushes for Palestine to be granted full membership to the United Nations on May 10.

The decision was at odds with the United States and Israel, and did not mention Hamas or hostages.

However, the vote does not provide Palestinian with U.N. membership because that would require the support of the 15-member U.N. Security Council.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong defended Australia’s decision, explaining the resolution was considered on its merits and overarching priority of contributing to a two-state solution.

But Shadow Foreign Minister Simon Birmingham said Labor’s support for the resolution sends a message that “violence and terrorism gets results ahead of negotiation and diplomacy.”