ABC, 18 July 2026
Protests scrutinised as antisemitism royal commission focuses on university activism
By Conor Duffy and james Oaten
From ABC
Australian universities have long histories of passionate, provocative activism that uses protest to turn attention to injustice.
This week though, the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion turned the mirror on the anti-Israel protest movement itself and the picture reflected back was often ugly.
The commission heard repeated examples of activism crossing the line into racial and religious vilification.
Jewish students and staff spoke of their distress at being individually targeted on the basis of their identity as the protest movement blamed them for the actions of the state of Israel.
"This is antisemitism, unambiguously," Melbourne University acting vice-chancellor Glyn Davis said.
"[It is the] conflation of the Jewish identity with the actions of a nation state."
For sections of the Jewish community, those admissions were too little too late, with some saying they had been sounding the alarm about antisemitism well before the protest movement stormed campuses in 2024.