An Australian Liberal MP has criticised the “extreme Green left” for leading and encouraging anti-Semitism in schools, saying that Jewish students are feeling increasingly under attack on campuses.
Julian Lesser also called for an inquiry into anti-Semitism on university campuses as he described the large number of students walking out of classes to support Palestine as “a sickness in our education system.”
The comment comes after hundreds of school students rallied in Melbourne and Sydney to called for a ceasefire in Gaza and demanded Australian political leaders to stop providing military aid to Israel.
Mr. Lesser, who holds the seat of Berowra, Sydney, said that students who were calling for Israel to be wiped off the map “needed to spend more time in the classroom.”
“We need to stand for people who have been attacked by terrorists. We need to oppose those people committing terrorist acts around the world.”
Mr. Leeser said going to protests wasn’t a legitimate reason for students’ truancy while accusing the extreme green left for encouraging such behaviours.
Pro-Palestine Protests
On Nov. 23 and Nov. 24, large crowds of students gathered in Town Hall in Sydney and Flinders Street in Melbourne in support of Palestine, chanting “free, free Palestine” and holding signs such as “get in, we’re freeing Gaza.”This is despite previous warnings from political leaders from the centre-right Coalition and the centre-left Labor, including New South Wales education minister Prue Carr, who argued, “one of the most important ways you can change the world is get an education.”
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton also described the protests as a political statement and “an indulgence.”
But Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi said she was “honoured” to be among the students protesting and praised the education system for having taught the students “the difference between right and wrong.”
Australia has abstained from the U.N. ceasefire vote because it considered the motion, which neither mentioned Hamas nor described the group’s terrorist acts, as “incomplete.”
Anti-Semitism Level ‘Off The Charts’
The school strikes took place as Jewish community members reported feeling increasingly unsafe with the increasing anti-Semitic sentiment in the country.Mr. Lesser described the current level of anti-Semitism in Australia as “unprecedented” and “off the charts.”
“There are many students that want to complain about anti-Semitic conduct but feel that their conduct would not be properly dealt with by education administrators in this country,” he said.
The survey, commissioned by the Zionist Federation of Australia, showed an overwhelming majority (85 percent) of anti-Semitic incidents go under the radar as students did not believe the institutions would address the incidents seriously.
